One-Step Synthesis of N-Doped Graphene Quantum Dots from Chitosan as a Sole Precursor Using Chemical Vapor Deposition

Subodh Kumar, S. K.Tarik Aziz, Olga Girshevitz, Gilbert D. Nessim

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109 Scopus citations

Abstract

We present a simple, environment-friendly, and fast synthesis of nitrogen-doped graphene quantum dots (N-GQDs) on copper foil by chemical vapor deposition using exclusively chitosan, a cheap and nontoxic biopolymer, as a carbon and nitrogen precursor. We characterized the synthesized N-doped graphene quantum dots using Raman spectroscopy, XPS, AFM, HRTEM, and HRSEM and found them to be in the range 10-15 nm in diameter and 2-5 nm-thick with 4.2% of maximum nitrogen content. The proposed growth mechanism process includes three key steps: (1) decomposition of chitosan into nitrogen-containing compounds, (2) adsorption of reactive species (HCN) on the copper surface, and (3) nucleation to form N-doped graphene quantum dots. The synthesized N-GQDs exhibit photoluminescence (PL) emission in the visible band region, thus making them suitable for applications in nano-optoelectronics.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2343-2349
Number of pages7
JournalJournal of Physical Chemistry C
Volume122
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Feb 2018

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 American Chemical Society.

Funding

S.K. acknowledges the Planning and Budgeting Committee of the Council for Higher Education for his PBC Post-Doctoral Fellowship. G.D.N. would also like to thank the Israel Science Foundation, VATAT, and the Israel Prime Minister’s Office fuel alternatives initiative for partial funding of this study under the Israel Research Center for Electrochemical Propulsion (INREP).

FundersFunder number
Israel Research Center for Electrochemical Propulsion
Israel Science Foundation
Planning and Budgeting Committee of the Council for Higher Education
VATAT

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