Photocycle of Excitons in Nitrogen-Rich Carbon Nanodots: Implications for Photocatalysis and Photovoltaics

Gazzetto, Michela; Sciortino, Alice; Nazari, Maryam; Rohwer, Egmont; Giammona, Gaetano; Mauro, Nicolò; Feurer, Thomas; Messina, Fabrizio; Cannizzo, Andrea (2020). Photocycle of Excitons in Nitrogen-Rich Carbon Nanodots: Implications for Photocatalysis and Photovoltaics. ACS applied nano materials, 3(7), pp. 6925-6934. ACS Publications 10.1021/acsanm.0c01259

	Text 20_ACS-ANM_SI_CD_272nm_400nm_photocycle.pdf - Published Version Restricted to registered users only Available under License Publisher holds Copyright. Download (7MB) | Request a copy
Preview	Text Gazzetto_ACS_AppliedNano_Revised_Article_pre-edited_SI.pdf - Accepted Version Available under License Publisher holds Copyright. Download (5MB) | Preview

Nitrogen-rich carbon nanodots have emerged as promising nanomaterials for a wide range of applications where a highly emissive and photoactive material with low toxicity and cost-effectiveness is required. One of their hallmarks is indeed a bright, tunable fluorescence of excitonic nature. Disentangling the origin of their optical absorption and fluorescence properties and uncovering relaxation channels and interactions with solvents are some of the most debated issues in the field. Uncovering these aspects is essential for targeted applications, especially in the fields of photocatalysis but also photovoltaics and optoelectronics. Here, we present dedicated transient absorption measurements of purified monodispersed nanodots covering all relevant electronic transitions. Monodispersed nanodots of about 6 nm size exhibit well-separated absorption and emission features and allow us to unambiguously establish the complete and size-independent femtosecond-to-nanosecond photocycle of nitrogen-rich carbon nanodots. Further rigorous analysis shows that the often complex absorption and emission spectra of an ensemble of nanodots with a broad size distribution result from the superposition of individual size-selective contributions.

Interest & Impact

Downloads

17 since deposited on 03 Mar 2021
16 in the past 12 months

Citations

5 Citations in Web of Science ®
6 Citations in Scopus

Search

in Google Scholar™

Services

Actions (login required)

Edit item

Actions (login required)

Edit item