Carbon dots(CDs) are potentially useful in many areas such as bioimaging, light-emitting diodes, and sensing because of their excellent optical properties, high biocompatibility, and low toxicity.Knowledge of their ph...Carbon dots(CDs) are potentially useful in many areas such as bioimaging, light-emitting diodes, and sensing because of their excellent optical properties, high biocompatibility, and low toxicity.Knowledge of their photoluminescence(PL) mechanisms, which have been widely studied, is of significance in guiding the synthesis and promoting applications of CDs with tunable PL emissions. However,the intrinsic mechanism of PL emission remains unclear, and a unified mechanism has not been found because of differences in particle structures. This review generalizes the categories of CDs, noting their structural diversity. Three types of PL mechanism pertaining to structural differences are outlined: internal factors dominated emission(including the conjugation effect, the surface state, and the synergistic effect), external factors dominated emission(including the molecular state and the environment effect),and crosslink-enhanced emission. Optical applications of CDs are also briefly mentioned. Finally, the prospects for research into PL mechanisms are discussed, noting the remaining challenges and directions for future work.展开更多
基金financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(21905253,51973200)the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation(2018M640681,2019T120632)。
文摘Carbon dots(CDs) are potentially useful in many areas such as bioimaging, light-emitting diodes, and sensing because of their excellent optical properties, high biocompatibility, and low toxicity.Knowledge of their photoluminescence(PL) mechanisms, which have been widely studied, is of significance in guiding the synthesis and promoting applications of CDs with tunable PL emissions. However,the intrinsic mechanism of PL emission remains unclear, and a unified mechanism has not been found because of differences in particle structures. This review generalizes the categories of CDs, noting their structural diversity. Three types of PL mechanism pertaining to structural differences are outlined: internal factors dominated emission(including the conjugation effect, the surface state, and the synergistic effect), external factors dominated emission(including the molecular state and the environment effect),and crosslink-enhanced emission. Optical applications of CDs are also briefly mentioned. Finally, the prospects for research into PL mechanisms are discussed, noting the remaining challenges and directions for future work.
