Issue 17, 2024

Room-temperature phosphorescence in coal-based humic acid-derived carbon dots

Abstract

Coal-derived carbon dots inherit the rich functional groups of raw coal, which makes them easy to be modified, and have important applications in chemical analysis, biomedicine, optoelectronic devices and other fields due to their excellent properties. In this work, we achieved room-temperature phosphorescence (RTP) emission of coal-based humic acid-derived carbon dots (HACDs) in boric acid for the first time. The results show that the boron–carbon bonds are prone to generate between HACDs and boric acid under heating conditions. Besides, the surface of the prepared HACDs contains numerous phenolic hydroxyl groups, which are easily oxidized by hydrogen peroxide into carbonyl groups, improving the phosphorescence lifetime. The resultant RTP materials exhibit an ultra-long phosphorescence lifetime of 632.20 ms with an outstanding afterglow as long as 9.0 s, and the phosphorescence quantum yield is 7.6%. This work provides guidance for finding earth-abundant and cost-effective carbon sources and a novel means to modulate the emission mechanism of coal-derived carbon dots.

Graphical abstract: Room-temperature phosphorescence in coal-based humic acid-derived carbon dots

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
28 Feb 2024
Accepted
30 Mar 2024
First published
09 Apr 2024

J. Mater. Chem. C, 2024,12, 6333-6340

Room-temperature phosphorescence in coal-based humic acid-derived carbon dots

Z. He, M. Yuen, C. Zhang, J. Zhang, Z. Wang, C. Yue, M. Ye and K. Zhang, J. Mater. Chem. C, 2024, 12, 6333 DOI: 10.1039/D4TC00787E

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements