PMID- 34073829
OWN - NLM
STAT- PubMed-not-MEDLINE
LR  - 20210714
IS  - 2079-4991 (Print)
IS  - 2079-4991 (Electronic)
IS  - 2079-4991 (Linking)
VI  - 11
IP  - 6
DP  - 2021 May 24
TI  - Effect of Solvent on Fluorescence Emission from Polyethylene Glycol-Coated 
      Graphene Quantum Dots under Blue Light Illumination.
LID - 10.3390/nano11061383 [doi]
LID - 1383
AB  - To explore aggregate-induced emission (AIE) properties, this study adopts a 
      one-pot hydrothermal route for synthesizing polyethylene glycol (PEG)-coated 
      graphene quantum dot (GQD) clusters, enabling the emission of highly intense 
      photoluminescence under blue light illumination. The hydrothermal synthesis was 
      performed at 300  degrees C using o-phenylenediamine as the nitrogen and carbon sources 
      in the presence of PEG. Three different solvents, propylene glycol methyl ether 
      acetate (PGMEA), ethanol, and water, were used for dispersing the PEG-coated 
      GQDs, where extremely high fluorescent emission was achieved at 530-550 nm. It 
      was shown that the quantum yield (QY) of PEG-coated GQD suspensions is strongly 
      dependent on the solvent type. The pristine GQD suspension tends to be quenched 
      (i.e., QY: ~1%) when dispersed in PGMEA (aggregation-caused quenching). However, 
      coating GQD nanoparticles with polyethylene glycol results in substantial 
      enhancement of the quantum yield. When investigating the photoluminescence 
      emission from PEG-coated GQD clusters, the surface tension of the solvents was 
      within the range of from 26.9 to 46.0 mN/m. This critical index can be tuned for 
      assessing the transition point needed to activate the AIE mechanism which 
      ultimately boosts the fluorescence intensity. The one-pot hydrothermal route 
      established in this study can be adopted to engineer PEG-coated GQD clusters with 
      solid-state PL emission capabilities, which are needed for next-generation 
      optical, bio-sensing, and energy storage/conversion devices.
FAU - Yang, Po-Chih
AU  - Yang PC
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0002-0986-146X
AD  - Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Yuan Ze University, 
      Taoyuan 32003, Taiwan.
FAU - Ting, Yu-Xuan
AU  - Ting YX
AD  - Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Yuan Ze University, 
      Taoyuan 32003, Taiwan.
FAU - Gu, Siyong
AU  - Gu S
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0003-3963-4644
AD  - Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Functional Materials and Applications, School 
      of Materials Science and Engineering, Xiamen University of Technology, Xiamen 
      361024, China.
FAU - Ashraf Gandomi, Yasser
AU  - Ashraf Gandomi Y
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0003-2546-1754
AD  - Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 
      Cambridge, MA 02142, USA.
FAU - Li, Jianlin
AU  - Li J
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0002-8710-9847
AD  - Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Electrification and Energy Infrastructure 
      Division, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA.
FAU - Hsieh, Chien-Te
AU  - Hsieh CT
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0002-1053-8635
AD  - Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Yuan Ze University, 
      Taoyuan 32003, Taiwan.
LA  - eng
GR  - MOST 108-2221-E-155-036-MY3/Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan/
GR  - MOST 109-2221-E-155-053/Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan/
PT  - Journal Article
DEP - 20210524
PL  - Switzerland
TA  - Nanomaterials (Basel)
JT  - Nanomaterials (Basel, Switzerland)
JID - 101610216
PMC - PMC8225077
OTO - NOTNLM
OT  - graphene quantum dots
OT  - hydrothermal synthesis
OT  - nitrogen functionalization
OT  - photoluminescence
COIS- The authors declare no conflict of interest.
EDAT- 2021/06/03 06:00
MHDA- 2021/06/03 06:01
PMCR- 2021/05/24
CRDT- 2021/06/02 01:39
PHST- 2021/04/21 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2021/05/08 00:00 [revised]
PHST- 2021/05/16 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2021/06/02 01:39 [entrez]
PHST- 2021/06/03 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2021/06/03 06:01 [medline]
PHST- 2021/05/24 00:00 [pmc-release]
AID - nano11061383 [pii]
AID - nanomaterials-11-01383 [pii]
AID - 10.3390/nano11061383 [doi]
PST - epublish
SO  - Nanomaterials (Basel). 2021 May 24;11(6):1383. doi: 10.3390/nano11061383.