Preparation of Carbon Dots from Cellulose Using Ionic Liquid under Mild Condition

Abstract

This research focused on the preparation of carbon dots (CDs) using cellulose hydrolysis in ionic liquid (IL) at a low temperature of 65 °C without additional treatments. The morphologies of the CDs were observed by TEM. The chemical structures and the optical properties were characterized by XPS, FT-IR, UV-vis and PL spectroscopies. As the cellulose was incubated longer in the IL, the size of the CDs was reduced. Besides, the core of the CD was simultaneously nitrogen-doped more with graphitic N, resulting in the increase of the quantum yield up to ∼33 %. For the easier application of the CD in solid state, the CD embedded cellulose film was simply prepared via the one-pot dissolution. The prepared cellulose film showed excellent photoluminescence behaviors as well as the superior transparency of over 97 % in the visible light region.