Photoluminescent graphene quantum dots (GQDs) have received enormous attention because of their unique chemical, electronic and optical properties. Here a series of GQDs were synthesized under hydrothermal processes in order to investigate the formation process and optical properties of N-doped GQDs. Citric acid (CA) was used as a carbon precursor and self-assembled into sheet structure in a basic condition and formed N-free GQD graphite framework through intermolecular dehydrolysis reaction. N-doped GQDs were prepared using a series of N-containing bases such as urea. Detailed structural and property studies demonstrated the formation mechanism of N-doped GQDs for tunable optical emissions. Hydrothermal conditions promote formation of amide between –NH2 and –COOH with the presence of amine in the reaction. The intramoleculur dehydrolysis between neighbour amide and COOH groups led to formation of pyrrolic N in the graphene framework. Further, the pyrrolic N transformed to graphite N under hydrothermal conditions. N-doping results in a great improvement of PL quantum yield (QY) of GQDs. By optimized reaction conditions, the highest PL QY (94%) of N-doped GQDs was obtained using CA as a carbon source and ethylene diamine as a N source. The obtained N-doped GQDs exhibit an excitation-independent blue emission with single exponential lifetime decay.

A theranostic nanomedicine (CD-Oxa) is synthesized by means of the condensation reaction between the amino groups on the surface of fluorescent carbon dots (CDs) and the carboxyl group of the oxaliplatin derivative Oxa(IV)-COOH. CD-Oxa, which integrates the optical properties of CDs and the anticancer function of oxaliplatin, could be used for simultaneous drug delivery and fluorescent tracking.

A new type of carbon dots (CD-Asp) with targeting function toward brain cancer glioma was synthesized via a straightforward pyrolysis route by using D-glucose and L-aspartic acid as starting materials. The as-prepared CD-Asp exhibits not only excellent biocompatibility and tunable full-color emission, but also significant capability of targeting C6 glioma cells without the aid of any extra targeting molecules. In vivo fluorescence images showed high-contrast biodistribution of CD-Asp 15 min after tail vein injection. A much stronger fluorescent signal was detected in the glioma site than that in normal brain, indicating their ability to freely penetrate the blood-brain barrier and precisely targeting glioma tissue. However, its counterparts, the CDs synthesized from D-glucose (CD-G), L-asparic acid (CD-A), or D-glucose and L-glutamic acid (CD-Glu) have no or low selectivity for glioma. Therefore, CD-Asp could act as a fluorescence imaging and targeting agent for noninvasive glioma diagnosis. This work highlights the potential application of CDs for constructing an intelligent nanomedicine with integration of diagnostic, targeting, and therapeutic functions.

Because of the direct band gap of 4.9 eV, β-Ga2O3 has been considered as an ideal material for solar-blind photodetection without any bandgap tuning. Practical applications of the photodetectors require fast response speed, high signal-to-noise ratio, low energy consumption and low fabrication cost. Unfortunately, most reported β-Ga2O3-based photodetectors usually possess a relatively long response time. In addition, the β-Ga2O3 photodetectors based on bulk, the individual 1D nanostructure, and the film often suffer from the high cost, the low repeatability, and the relatively large dark current, respectively. In this paper, a Au/β-Ga2O3 nanowires array film vertical Schottky photodiode is successfully fabricated by a simple thermal partial oxidation process. The device exhibits a very low dark current of 10 pA at -30 V with a sharp cutoff at 270 nm. More interestingly, the 90-10% decay time of our device is only around 64 μs, which is much quicker than any other previously reported β-Ga2O3-based photodetectors. Besides, the self-powering, the excellent stability and the good reproducibility of Au/β-Ga2O3 nanowires array film photodetector are helpful to its commercialization and practical applications.

A two-dimensional cationic covalent organic framework membrane with extraordinary separation properties and high permeability.

Despite rapid developments of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) based on emerging perovskite nanocrystals (PeNCs), it remains challenging to achieve devices with integrated high efficiencies and high brightness because of the insulating long-chain ligands used for the PeNCs. Herein, we develop highly luminescent and stable formamidinium lead bromide PeNCs capped with rationally designed short aromatic ligands of 2-naphthalenesulfonic acid (NSA) for LEDs. Compared with commonly used oleic acid ligands, the NSA molecules not only preserve the surface properties of the PeNCs during the purification but also notably improve the electrical properties of the assembled emissive layers, ensuring efficient charge injection/transport in the devices. The resulting champion LED with electroluminescence approaching the Rec. 2020 green primary color demonstrates a high brightness of 67 115 cd cm −2 and a peak external quantum efficiency of 19.2%. More impressively, the device shows negligibly decreased efficiency at an elevated brightness of 20 000 cd cm −2 and a well-retained efficiency of over 10% at around 65 000 cd cm −2 , presenting a breakthrough in LEDs based on PeNCs.

Defects (Ti or oxygen vacancies) have been demonstrated to promote the charge separation process in TiO based photocatalysts. Particularly, the bulk defects within a certain concentration can give a great enhancement for both light absorption and charge separation efficiency. In this report, we explored a one-step molten salts route to synthesize SrTiO nanocubes with bulk defects (Ti doped) by using SrCO as a Sr source, and TiO and Ti powder as Ti sources. The amount of defects can be tuned by changing the molar ratio of Ti/TiO. The corresponding bandgap of SrTiO can be changed from 3.29 to 2.73 eV with the increase of defects. X-ray diffraction and electron microscopy disclose that SrTiO is highly crystalline and has a cubic morphology. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and electron paramagnetic resonance indicate that the as-prepared SrTiO is close to the Ti doped SrTiO. Surface photovoltage spectroscopy (SPS) and field-induced SPS confirm that Ti doping in the SrTiO turns it from an n-type semiconductor to p-type. The SrTiO with an optimal amount of defects exhibits highly enhanced photocatalytic performance. An excess amount of defects results in a weak SPS response and photocatalytic performance.

Formamidinium lead bromide (FAPbBr3) nanocrystals (NCs) demonstrate great potential in light‐emitting diode (LED) applications due to their pure green emission and excellent stability. However, the abundant defects at the surface of the NCs act as charge trapping centers and significantly increase the trap‐assisted nonradiative recombination channels, hampering the performance improvement of LEDs based on FAPbBr3 NCs. Herein, a facile self‐passivation strategy of the surface defects is developed by introducing excess formamidinium bromide (FABr) during the colloidal synthesis of NCs, leading to much improved photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) of the obtained NCs. In addition, enhanced charge transport property is measured in the assembled films owing to the simultaneously declined insulating ligands at the surface of NCs. The molar ratio of FABr and PbBr2 is rationally optimized during the synthesis of NCs and high‐efficient green‐emissive LEDs are fabricated with a champion current efficiency of 76.8 cd A−1, corresponding to an external quantum efficiency of 17.1%, which is among the best‐performing green LEDs based on perovskite NCs so far.