The Formation Process and Mechanism of Carbon Dots Prepared from Aromatic Compounds as Precursors: A Review

• Published in: Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) Vol. 19; no. 31; pp. e2206180 - n/a
• Main Authors: Xue, Shanshan, Li, Pengfei, Sun, Lu, An, Li, Qu, Dan, Wang, Xiayan, Sun, Zaicheng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Germany Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01-08-2023
• Subjects: Amines; Aromatic compounds; Carbon dots; Fluorescence; fluorescence mechanism; formation process; Nanomaterials; Nanotechnology; Optical properties; Phenols; Precursors; Synthesis; carbon dots; aromatic compounds; fluorescence mechanism; formation process
• ISSN: 1613-6810; 1613-6829
• DOI: 10.1002/smll.202206180

Fluorescent carbon dots are a novel type of nanomaterial. Due to their excellent optical properties, they have extensive application prospects in many fields. Studying the formation process and fluorescence mechanism of CDs will assist scientists in understanding the synthesis of CDs and guide more profound applications. Due to their conjugated structures, aromatic compounds have been continuously used to synthesize CDs, with emissions ranging from blue to NIR. There is a lack of a systematic summary of the formation process and fluorescence mechanism of aromatic precursors to form CDs. In this review, the formation process of CDs is first categorized into three main classes according to the precursor types of aromatic compounds: amines, phenols, and polycyclics. And then, the fluorescence mechanism of CDs synthesized from aromatic compounds is summarized. The challenges and prospects are proposed in the last section.
Carbon dots (CDs) have been rapidly developed in recent years due to their excellent optical properties. This paper reviews the recent advances in preparing fluorescent CDs using aromatic compounds as precursors, focusing on the formation process and the photoluminescence mechanism. Hopefully, it can provide a fresh idea to reveal the formation of CDs, so that CDs can be developed better!