Fullerene-Structural Carbon-Based Dots from C₆₀ Molecules and their Optical Properties.

Dong, Yongqiang; Fang, Qingqing; Wu, Huan; Wan, Lisi; Lin, Yuhong; Lu, Chun‐Hua; Chi, Yuwu; Yang, Huang‐Hao

Fullerene-structural carbon-based dots (f-CDs) are synthesized for the first time by chemically oxidizing fullerene molecules (C60) using concentrated HNO3. The lateral sizes of the f-CDs distribute in the range of 7-20 nm, and the heights mainly range from 0.4 to 1.3 nm with an average value of 0.7 nm. The presence of massive pentagonal carbon units makes the f-CDs different from most of graphitic-CDs in structure and morphology. The f-CDs exhibit unique luminescent properties such as photoluminescence (PL) and electrochemiluminescence. Based on the investigation of the UV-vis absorption and luminescent properties, a novel and reasonable model is proposed for the PL mechanism of f-CDs. Furthermore, the obtained f-CDs show low cytotoxicity and have potential application in cell imaging.

FULLERENES; OPTICAL properties; PHOTOLUMINESCENCE; ELECTROCHEMILUMINESCENCE; ULTRAVIOLET radiation; CELL imaging

Particle & Particle Systems Characterization, 2016, Vol 33, Issue 12, p916

0934-0866

Academic Journal

10.1002/ppsc.201600180