Rapid, Acid-Free Synthesis of High-Quality Graphene Quantum Dots for Aggregation Induced Sensing of Metal Ions and Bioimaging.

Journal: ACS omega
Published Date:

Abstract

Graphene quantum dots (GQDs) are zero-dimensional materials that exhibit characteristics of both graphene and quantum dots. Herein, we report a rapid, relatively green, one-pot synthesis of size-tunable GQDs from graphene oxide (GO) by a sonochemical method with intermittent microwave heating, keeping the reaction temperature constant at 90 °C. The GQDs were synthesized by oxidative cutting of GO using KMnO as an oxidizing agent within a short span of time (30 min) in an acid-free condition. The synthesized GQDs were of high quality and exhibited good quantum yield (23.8%), high product yield (>75%), and lower cytotoxicity (tested up to 1000 μg/mL). Furthermore, the as-synthesized GQDs were demonstrated as excellent fluorescent probes for bioimaging and label-free sensing of Fe(III) ions, with a detection limit as low as 10 × 10 M.

Authors

  • Raji V Nair
    Functional Materials, Materials Science and Technology Division, CSIR-National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (NIIST), Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala 695019, India.
  • Reny Thankam Thomas
    Functional Materials, Materials Science and Technology Division, CSIR-National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (NIIST), Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala 695019, India.
  • Vandana Sankar
    Agro-Processing & Technology Division, CSIR-National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (NIIST), Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala 695019, India.
  • Hanif Muhammad
    Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center (iNANO), Aarhus University, DK-8000 Aarhus, Denmark.
  • Mingdong Dong
    Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center (iNANO), Aarhus University, DK-8000 Aarhus, Denmark.
  • Saju Pillai
    Functional Materials, Materials Science and Technology Division, CSIR-National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (NIIST), Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala 695019, India.

Keywords

No keywords available for this article.