Acetone-derived luminescent polymer dots: a facile and low-cost synthesis leads to remarkable photophysical properties. Issue 63 (19th October 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Mucha, Sebastian G.; Firlej, Lucyna; Bantignies, Jean-Louis; Żak, Andrzej; Samoć, Marek; Matczyszyn, Katarzyna
• Is Part Of: RSC advances. Volume 10:Issue 63(2020)
• Page Start: 38437
• Page End: 38445
• Publication Date: 2020-10-19
• Subjects: Chemistry -- Periodicals; 540.5
• DOI: 10.1039/d0ra05957a
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2046-2069

Abstract

Abstract : Acetone-derived polymer dots (PDs) have been fabricated, according to a base-mediated synthesis route at room temperature. As-obtained hydrophobic and hydrophilic PDs revealed a strong greenish-blue emission due to the crosslink-enhanced effect. Abstract : Carbon-based dots have been attracting much attention as potentially superior alternatives to more conventional semiconductor nanoparticles, due to their fascinating optical properties, chemical and photochemical stability, unique environmental-friendliness, and the versatility of fabrication routes. Many commercial materials and organic compounds have been considered so far as carbon precursors but in many cases the fabrication required high-temperature conditions or led to inhomogeneous final products. Here we report on a simple low-cost synthesis of non-conjugated carbon-rich polymer dots (PDs) that uses acetone as carbon precursor. Both hydrophilic and hydrophobic fractions of PDs were obtained, with the respective average diameters of 2–4 nm and ca. 6 nm. The as-obtained PDs reveal greenish-blue photoluminescence (PL) and high quantum yields (∼5–7%) and complex kinetics of the decays with the average lifetime of ∼3.5 ns. Such luminescent acetone-derived PDs may find application in several fields, including sensing and bioimaging.