Facile one-pot synthesis of PEG-derived carbon dots with enhanced luminescence via L-cysteine-assisted S,N-doping

Document Type

Article

Source Title

Journal of the Chinese Chemical Society

Volume

70

Issue

8

First Page

1636

Last Page

1643

Publication Date

2023

Abstract

Carbon nanodots (C-dots) are promising photoluminescent nanomaterials for biomedical applications. Among them, PEG-derived C-dots demonstrate exceptional photoluminescence and passivation properties, making them particularly attractive for use in the biomedical field. In this article, we present the synthesis of photoluminescent S,N-doped PEG-derived carbon dots that are stable at ambient temperature and can be produced using an easy hydrothermal technique. To synthesize the carbon dots, the non-hazardous polymer polyethylene glycol (PEG) was used as the sole precursor rather than any other potentially hazardous compounds. The absence of L-cysteine in the reaction mixture resulted in carbon dots with no significant absorbance in the visible region but exhibited photoluminescence properties with a maximum excitation and emission at 343 and 452 nm, respectively. However, the addition of L-cysteine resulted in a visible absorbance and a red shift in both the maximum excitation and emission, at around 435 and 503 nm, respectively. The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis provided evidence for the presence of -SH, -SO2, -NH2, and CON-H bond stretching after the addition of L-cysteine, suggesting possible S,N-doping of the carbon dots, which likely caused the observed changes in photoluminescence properties. These findings contribute to the understanding of S,N-doping in carbon dots and highlight their potential applications in optoelectronics, sensing, and biomedical imaging.

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Disciplines

Materials Science and Engineering

Keywords

Quantum dots; Nanostructured materials; Polyethylene glycol; Photoluminescence; Doped semiconductor nanocrystals

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