Strongly Luminescent Composites Based on Carbon Dots Embedded in a Nanoporous Silicate Glass
Evgeniia A. Stepanidenko,
Pavel D. Khavlyuk,
Irina A. Arefina,
Sergei A. Cherevkov,
Yuan Xiong,
Aaron Döring,
Georgii V. Varygin,
Dmitry A. Kurdyukov,
Daniil A. Eurov,
Valery G. Golubev,
Mikhail A. Masharin,
Alexander V. Baranov,
Anatoly V. Fedorov,
Elena V. Ushakova,
Andrey L. Rogach
Affiliations
Evgeniia A. Stepanidenko
Center of Information Optical Technologies, ITMO University, 49 Kronverkskiy Pr., 197101 St. Petersburg, Russia
Pavel D. Khavlyuk
Center of Information Optical Technologies, ITMO University, 49 Kronverkskiy Pr., 197101 St. Petersburg, Russia
Irina A. Arefina
Center of Information Optical Technologies, ITMO University, 49 Kronverkskiy Pr., 197101 St. Petersburg, Russia
Sergei A. Cherevkov
Center of Information Optical Technologies, ITMO University, 49 Kronverkskiy Pr., 197101 St. Petersburg, Russia
Yuan Xiong
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and Centre for Functional Photonics (CFP), City University of Hong Kong, 83 Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China
Aaron Döring
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and Centre for Functional Photonics (CFP), City University of Hong Kong, 83 Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China
Georgii V. Varygin
Interdisciplinary Resource Center for Nanotechnology, St. Petersburg State University, 7/9 Universitetskaya nab., 199034 St. Petersburg, Russia
Dmitry A. Kurdyukov
Laboratory of Amorphous Semiconductors, Ioffe Institute, 26 Politekhnicheskaya Str., 194021 St. Petersburg, Russia
Daniil A. Eurov
Laboratory of Amorphous Semiconductors, Ioffe Institute, 26 Politekhnicheskaya Str., 194021 St. Petersburg, Russia
Valery G. Golubev
Laboratory of Amorphous Semiconductors, Ioffe Institute, 26 Politekhnicheskaya Str., 194021 St. Petersburg, Russia
Mikhail A. Masharin
Department of Physics and Engineering, ITMO University, 49 Kronverkskiy Pr., 197101 St. Petersburg, Russia
Alexander V. Baranov
Center of Information Optical Technologies, ITMO University, 49 Kronverkskiy Pr., 197101 St. Petersburg, Russia
Anatoly V. Fedorov
Center of Information Optical Technologies, ITMO University, 49 Kronverkskiy Pr., 197101 St. Petersburg, Russia
Elena V. Ushakova
Center of Information Optical Technologies, ITMO University, 49 Kronverkskiy Pr., 197101 St. Petersburg, Russia
Andrey L. Rogach
Center of Information Optical Technologies, ITMO University, 49 Kronverkskiy Pr., 197101 St. Petersburg, Russia
Luminescent composites based on entirely non-toxic, environmentally friendly compounds are in high demand for a variety of applications in photonics and optoelectronics. Carbon dots are a recently developed kind of luminescent nanomaterial that is eco-friendly, biocompatible, easy-to-obtain, and inexpensive, with a stable and widely tunable emission. Herein, we introduce luminescent composites based on carbon dots of different chemical compositions and with different functional groups at the surface which were embedded in a nanoporous silicate glass. The structure and optical properties of these composites were comprehensively examined using electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared transmission, UV-Vis absorption, and steady-state and time-resolved photoluminescence. It is shown that the silicate matrix efficiently preserved, and even enhanced the emission of different kinds of carbon dots tested. The photoluminescence quantum yield of the fabricated nanocomposite materials reached 35–40%, which is comparable to or even exceeds the values for carbon dots in solution.
