Scientific Reports (Jun 2025)
Temperature responsive aluminum manganese doped carbon dot sensors for enhanced electrical conductivity with DFT calculations
Abstract
Abstract Agricultural wastes provide abundant cellulosic by-products, making them excellent candidates for sustainable material production. In this study, sugarcane bagasse was used to synthesize aluminum/manganese-doped carbon quantum dots (Al-Mn/CQDs) through a microwave-assisted process. Aluminum doping and subsequent thermal treatment progressively reduced the band gap of manganese-doped carbon quantum dots from 1.21 eV to 0.7 eV and 0.3 eV, respectively, demonstrating a tunable electronic structure with implications for applications requiring specific emission wavelengths. The resulting CQDs exhibit a spherical morphology (1.95–2.05 nm) and, upon aluminum incorporation, form uniform sheet-like structures decorated with these particles. Optical analysis shows a notable improvement in fluorescence quantum yield, reaching up to 42.65% at elevated synthesis temperatures, and a narrow full width at half maximum, demonstrating strong potential for bioimaging and sensing applications. Aluminum incorporation into Mn/CQDs lowers the LUMO energy level from − 0.12459 to − 0.14838 eV, indicating that aluminum creates or modifies acceptor states to favor electron acceptance. Moreover, the total energy decreases from − 1638.16 au in Mn/CQDs to − 1874.34 au in Al-Mn/CQDs, underscoring the enhanced stability and favorable formation of the aluminum-modified carbon dots. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal a lower energy gap (0.0482 eV), higher softness (20.74 eV), and enhanced charge transfer, findings confirmed by stable and low-impedance conductivity across a wide frequency range. These properties make Al-Mn/CQDs ideal for antistatic protection, electromagnetic interference shielding, and RLC bridge calibration, while their temperature-sensitive behavior also shows promise for temperature sensing applications.
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