Material and Optical Properties of Fluorescent Carbon Quantum Dots Fabricated from Lemon Juice via Hydrothermal Reaction

Abstract The water-soluble fluorescent carbon quantum dots (CQDs) are synthesized by utilizing lemon juice as carbon resource via a simple hydrothermal reaction. The obtained CQDs are with an average size of 3.1 nm. They reveal uniform morphology and well-crystalline and can generate bright blue-gre...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Meiqin He, Jin Zhang, Hai Wang, Yanrong Kong, Yiming Xiao, Wen Xu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SpringerOpen 2018-06-01
Series:Nanoscale Research Letters
Subjects:
Online Access:http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s11671-018-2581-7
Description
Summary:Abstract The water-soluble fluorescent carbon quantum dots (CQDs) are synthesized by utilizing lemon juice as carbon resource via a simple hydrothermal reaction. The obtained CQDs are with an average size of 3.1 nm. They reveal uniform morphology and well-crystalline and can generate bright blue-green light emission under UV or blue light irradiation. We find that the fluorescence from these CQDs is mainly induced by the presence of oxygen-containing groups on the surface and edge of the CQDs. Moreover, we demonstrate that the as-prepared CQDs can be applied to imaging plant cells. This study is related to the fabrication, investigation, and application of newly developed carbon nanostructures.
ISSN:1931-7573
1556-276X