Coal as an abundant source of graphene quantum dots
| Autor: | Errol L. G. Samuel, Nathan P. Cook, Ruquan Ye, Jian Lin, Gedeng Ruan, Abdul-Rahman O. Raji, Changsheng Xiang, Zhiwei Peng, Kewei Huang, Angel A. Martí, Gabriel Ceriotti, James M. Tour, Chih-Chau Hwang, Zheng Yan |
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| Rok vydání: | 2013 |
| Předmět: |
Materials science
General Physics and Astronomy chemistry.chemical_element Nanotechnology General Biochemistry Genetics and Molecular Biology law.invention Microscopy Electron Transmission law Materials Testing Quantum Dots Coal Multidisciplinary business.industry Graphene Temperature General Chemistry Hydrogen-Ion Concentration Carbon Electricity generation chemistry Quantum dot Microscopy Electron Scanning Graphite business |
| Zdroj: | Nature Communications. 4 |
| ISSN: | 2041-1723 |
| DOI: | 10.1038/ncomms3943 |
| Popis: | Coal is the most abundant and readily combustible energy resource being used worldwide. However, its structural characteristic creates a perception that coal is only useful for producing energy via burning. Here we report a facile approach to synthesize tunable graphene quantum dots from various types of coal, and establish that the unique coal structure has an advantage over pure sp2-carbon allotropes for producing quantum dots. The crystalline carbon within the coal structure is easier to oxidatively displace than when pure sp2-carbon structures are used, resulting in nanometre-sized graphene quantum dots with amorphous carbon addends on the edges. The synthesized graphene quantum dots, produced in up to 20% isolated yield from coal, are soluble and fluorescent in aqueous solution, providing promise for applications in areas such as bioimaging, biomedicine, photovoltaics and optoelectronics, in addition to being inexpensive additives for structural composites. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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