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 language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 2343-2349 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Journal of Physical Chemistry C |
Volume | 122 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 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).
Funders | Funder number |
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Israel Research Center for Electrochemical Propulsion | |
Israel Science Foundation | |
Planning and Budgeting Committee of the Council for Higher Education | |
VATAT |