Non‐Metal‐Heteroatom‐Doped Carbon Dots: Synthesis and Properties

Abstract

Carbon dots (CDs) are new materials with applications in bioimaging, optical devices, catalysis, and many other fields. Their advantages, such as ease of large-scale preparation, low-costing precursors, highly tunable photoluminescence, satisfactory biocompatibility, and photostability against photobleaching, make them competitive alternatives to conventional semiconductor-based quantum dots and organic dyes. To overwhelm other luminescent materials in applications, their functionalities still need to be improved in spite of the abovementioned advantages. In recent years, it has been proven that heteroatom doping is an effective approach to improve the optical and electronic performance of CDs by tuning their carbon skeleton matrices and chemical structures. In this review, the development of non-metal-heteroatom-doped CDs, including heteroatom categories, preparation methods, and physicochemical properties, are discussed. Progressive trends in heteroatom-doped CDs are also discussed at the end of this review.

Near-infrared emissive carbon dots with 33.96% emission in aqueous solution for cellular sensing and light-emitting diodes

“…N atoms can use their unpaired electrons to improve the emission properties of CDs. The energy gap adjustment in the CDs also depends on the N and O contents, while the oxygen-containing functional groups, particle size, and graphite nitrogen together determine the different fluorescence characteristics of these CDs [56]. In addition, H 2 SO 4 also plays an important role in the reaction process.…”

Recent Advances and Sensing Applications of Carbon Dots

“…C dots are brighter and more stable in comparison with metal fluorescent nanomaterials like gold nanodots . When compared to quantum dots prepared from semiconductor materials, C dots can be prepared from wealthy organic compounds and are more biocompatible, but have broader emission bands. Photoblinking and photobleaching are common in semiconductor quantum dots, but they are insignificant in most C dots.…”

Recent Advancements in Doped/Co-Doped Carbon Quantum Dots for Multi-Potential Applications

“…Doped CQDs are commonly prepared via doping of the hetero-atoms-e.g., boron (B), fluorine (F), nitrogen (N), sulphur (S), and phosphorous (P)-into the general composition (i.e., C, H and O) of the CQDs (to yield B-/F-/N-/P-and S-doped CQDs, respectively) [55,56]. In addition, co-doping of these (B, F, N, P, and/or S) heteroatoms into the CQDs is also performed [25,57].…”