The controversial nature of the fluorescent properties of carbon dots (CDs), ascribed either to surface states or to small molecules adsorbed onto the carbon nanostructures, is an unresolved issue. To date, an accurate picture of CDs and an exhaustive structure-property correlation are still lacking. Using two unconventional spectroscopic techniques, fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) and time-resolved electron paramagnetic resonance (TREPR), we contribute to fill this gap. Although electron micrographs indicate the presence of carbon cores, FCS reveals that the emission properties of CDs are based neither on those cores nor on molecular species linked to them, but rather on free molecules. TREPR provides deeper insights into the structure of carbon cores, where C sp domains are embedded within C sp scaffolds. FCS and TREPR prove to be powerful techniques, characterizing CDs as inherently heterogeneous systems, providing insights into the nature of such systems and paving the way to standardization of these nanomaterials.

Herein, we propose convenient routes to produce hybrid-polymers that covalently enclosed, or confined, N-doped carbon quantum dots (CQDs). We focus our attention on polyamide, polyurea-urethane, polyester, and polymethylmetacrylate polymers, some of the most common resources used to create everyday materials. These hybrid materials can be easily prepared and processed to obtain macroscopic objects of different shapes, i.e., fibers, transparent sheets, and bulky forms, where the characteristic luminescence properties of the native N-doped CQDs are preserved. More importantly we explore the potential use of these hybrid composites to achieve photochemical reactions as those of photoreduction of silver ions to silver nanoparticles (under UV-light), the selective photo-oxidation of benzylalcohol to the benzaldehyde (under vis-light), and the photocatalytic generation of H2 (under UV-light).

The interest for transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) as two-dimensional (2D) analogues of graphene is steadily growing along with the need of efficient and easy tunable protocols for their surface functionalization. This latter aspect holds a key role in the widespread application of TMDs in various technological fields and it represents the missing step to bridge the gap between the more popular C sp2-based networks and their inorganic counterparts. Although significant steps forward have already been made in the field of TMDs functionalization (particularly for MoS2), a rational approach to their surface engineering for the generation of 2D organic–inorganic hybrids capable to accommodate various molecules featured by orthogonal groups has not been reported yet. The paper paves the way toward a new frontier for “click” chemistry in material science. It describes the post-synthetic modification (PSM) of covalently decorated MoS2 nanosheets with phenylazido pendant arms and the successful application of CuAAC chemistry (copper-mediated azide–alkyne cycloaddition) towards the generation of highly homo- and hetero-decorated MoS2 platforms. This contribution goes beyond the proof of evidence of the chemical grafting of organic groups to the surface of exfoliated MoS2 flakes through covalent C–S bonds. It also demonstrates the versatility of the hybrid samples to undergo post-synthetic modifications thus imparting multimodality to these 2D materials. Several physico-chemical [SEM microscopy, fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM)], spectroscopic (IR, Raman, XPS, UV–vis), and analytical tools have been combined together for the hybrids’ characterization as well as for the estimation of their functionalization loading.

Here, we propose an easy and robust strategy for the versatile preparation of hybrid plasmonic nanopores by means of controlled deposition of single flakes of MoS2 directly on top of metallic holes. The device is realized on silicon nitride membranes and can be further refined by TEM or FIB milling to achieve the passing of molecules or nanometric particles through a pore. Importantly, we show that the plasmonic enhancement provided by the nanohole is strongly accumulated in the 2D nanopore, thus representing an ideal system for single-molecule sensing and sequencing in a flow-through configuration. Here, we also demonstrate that the prepared 2D material can be decorated with metallic nanoparticles that can couple their resonance with the nanopore resonance to further enhance the electromagnetic field confinement at the nanoscale level. This method can be applied to any gold nanopore with a high level of reproducibility and parallelization; hence, it can pave the way to the next generation of solid-state nanopores with plasmonic functionalities. Moreover, the controlled/ordered integration of 2D materials on plasmonic nanostructures opens a pathway towards new investigation of the following: enhanced light emission; strong coupling from plasmonic hybrid structures; hot electron generation; and sensors in general based on 2D materials.