Waste chicken eggshell as low-cost precursor for efficient synthesis of nitrogen-doped fluorescent carbon nanodots and their multi-functional applications

Abstract

A novel one-step top-down method is developed for the efficient synthesis of nitrogen-doped carbon nanodots (NCNDs) by using calcination treatment of waste chicken eggshell as resources. Based on the usage of urea as a dopant, the as-synthesized NCNDs are referred to as NCND 1 (no dopant) and NCND 2. The structural and composition analysis indicate that NCND 2 possesses a mean particle diameter of 2.6 nm and an amorphous carbon structure with a lattice spacing of 0.38 nm. Despite having a low Ncontent ($4%), the as-prepared NCND 1 was also found to exhibit excellent photoluminescent properties, low cytotoxicity and could be effectively used for bioimaging, in conjunction with NCND 2.The multi-functional capability of NCND 2 is further demonstrated for stamping, printing, and forensic applications. This work may pave the way for employing carbonaceous waste materials as potential precursors in the synthesis of carbon nanomaterials for wide technological applications.

White carbon: Fluorescent carbon nanoparticles with tunable quantum yield in a reproducible green synthesis

“…This result supports the notion that for CNDs the nature of the surface states determines the emission wavelength. The highest PLQYs for N-CND 1 of 17% (10X TAE + starch) and for N-CND 2 of 28% (50X TAE) were obtained for a reaction temperature of 230 °C, which is lower than the recently reported PLQY for an alginate/tryptophan mixture (47.9%)32, but higher than the PLQY values previously reported for N-CNDs obtained from citric acid and urea (14%)35, EDTA (17.5%)34, and waste chicken eggshell and urea (7.8%)23. The strong linearity between PLQY and synthesis temperature (Fig.…”

“…Typical CND preparation methods are arc-discharge1016, laser ablation117, electrochemical synthesis41819, organic pyrolysis792021 or hydrothermal methods6822. Therefore, to reduce the overall preparation costs and to make use of biological waste, natural carbon sources such as pomelo peal8, egg-white and egg-yolk20, orange juice22 and even eggshells23 have been used for the preparation of CNDs. While the use of waste is desirable, especially to avoid competition with essential food production24, most starting-materials used in those studies lack the essential purity and structural homogeneity to obtain homogenous CNDs.…”

The physical properties of poly(l-lactide) and functionalized eggshell powder composites

“…However, the unique chemical structure and compositions and abundant resource of the eggshell make itself a versatile and free available resource of biobased calcium carbonate. The application of calcium carbonate based on eggshell has been extensively studied as additives for human nutrition, natural absorbent of heavy metals and dyes, and low-cost precursor for efficient synthesis of nitrogen-doped fluorescent carbon nanodots [28][29][30]. One of its most useful applications is as nano/micro fillers for polymer composites.…”

Nitrogen-doped carbon dots derived from polyamindoamine dendrimer

“…The XPS spectrum in Fig.2a reveals the existence of carbon (C 1s, 285 eV), nitrogen (N 1s, 400 eV) and oxygen (O 1s, 532 eV) at the surface of CDs, which is also consistent with the elemental analysis results. The high-resolution spectra of C 1s peaks at 284.6, 286.2, and 288.4 ev (Fig.2b) 34,37 . The high-resolution N 1s spectra of the CDs in shown Fig.2c reveal two types of nitrogen, i.e., amino N (399.5 ev) and pyrrolic N (400.1 ev), respectively 38 .…”

“…Yu et al 33 synthesized nitrogen-doped CDs from bee pollens and applied in bioimaging and catalysis. In another study, Ling et al 34 used the waste chicken eggshell to prepare nitrogen-doped CDs through a pyrolysis process at 300 o C. However, most of the nitrogen-doped CDs are unsatisfactory due to harsh synthetic conditions and long reaction time. Thus, the preparation of nitrogen-doped CDs with timesaving and eco-friendly process is a high concern.…”