title: The use of a microreactor for rapid screening of the reaction conditions and investigation of the photoluminescence mechanism of carbon dots.
abstract: A microreactor is applied and reported, for the first time, in the field of research of carbon dots (CDs), including rapid screening of the reaction conditions and investigation of the photoluminescence (PL) mechanism. Various carbonaceous precursors and solvents were selected and hundreds of reaction conditions were screened (ca. 15 min on average per condition). Through analyzing the screened conditions, tunable PL emission maxima, from about 330 to 550 nm with respectable PL quantum yields, were achieved. Moreover, the relationship between different developmental stages of the CDs and the PL properties was explored by using the microreactor. The PL emission was observed to be independent of the composition, carbonization extent, and morphology/size of the CDs. This study unambiguously presents that a microreactor could serve as a promising tool for the research of CDs.
authors.affiliation: Division of Functional Materials and Nano Devices, Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology & Engineering (NIMTE), Chinese Academy Sciences, Ningbo, Zhejiang Province 315201 (P.R. China), Fax: (+86) 574-86685163; Nano Science and Technology Institute, University of Science and Technology of China, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province 215123 (P.R. China).
authors.forename: Yue
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Ling
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Hengwei
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lin
mesh_terms: D002244:Carbon / Q000737:chemistry*; D008027:Light; D010316:Particle Size; D011789:Quantum Theory; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence
chemical_list: D002244:Carbon
keywords: carbon dots; luminescence; microreactors; reaction mechanisms; tunable emission