Abstract
The optical properties of top-down synthesized oxidized graphene quantum dots (ox-GQDs) and nitrogen-incorporating graphene quantum dots (N-GQDs) along a range of hydrothermal treatment temperatures were observed. By controlling the hydrothermal treatment temperature, different chemical states of nitrogen atoms were incorporated into GQDs. Below 150 °C, edge-terminating amines and amides dominated the nitrogen content of N-GQDs. Above 150 °C, nitrogen was primarily present in the forms of pyridinic, pyrrolic and quaternary N. In addition to the absorbance and emission profiles of ox-GQDs and N-GQDs, pH-dependent emission spectra were collected to probe chemical states of nitrogen atoms and investigate the relationship between nitrogen location and photoluminescence.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
10-16-2017
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.1039/C7RA09252K
Funding Information
This work was supported by the National Science Foundation under Cooperative Agreement No. 1355438. The purchase of a new XPS system recently installed at the University of Kentucky was supported by the fund from the NSF EPSCoR grant (grant no. 0814194).
Related Content
Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c7ra09252k
Repository Citation
Pillar-Little, Timothy and Kim, Doo Young, "Differentiating the Impact of Nitrogen Chemical States on Optical Properties of Nitrogen-Doped Graphene Quantum Dots" (2017). Chemistry Faculty Publications. 91.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/chemistry_facpub/91
Supporting Information
Notes/Citation Information
Published in RSC Advances, v. 7, issue 76, p. 48263-48267.
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