Work

Optical properties of polymer-derived carbon dots

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Luminescent carbon dots (CDs), as an emerging material class, have been actively investigated for applications in bioimaging, photocatalysis, and optoelectronic devices. Polymer materials have exhibited great potential as candidates for the preparation of CDs due to the high carbon percentage in their chemical structure and relative abundance. More importantly, chemical upcycling provides an economic approach to process polymer waste. In this article, we review synthetic routes and optical properties of CDs derived from different polymer sources, including polyethylene, polypropylene, mixed polyolefins, polystyrene, polyurethane, polyethylene terephthalate, polyethylene glycol, polylactide, polyacrylamide and polymers derived from natural resources. Applications based on the luminescent properties of these polymer-derived CDs are also briefly discussed. Though most of the current polymer-derived CDs show inferior photoluminescence quantum yields to those of small-molecule-derived CDs, there are pathways to improve the performance of polymer-derived CDs by adjusting the synthetic conditions and incorporating additives or dopants.

Source: Nanoscale

DOI: 10.1039/d5nr01092f

Authors: Yongqi Yang, Deirdre M. O'Carroll

Institution: Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Language: English

Topic: Carbon and Quantum Dots Applications

Subfield: Materials Chemistry

Field: Materials Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Funder: Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships

Award: G4625574548