Molecular Glue Strategy: Large-Scale Conversion of Clustering-Induced Emission Luminogen to Carbon Dots

• DOI: 10.1021/acsami.8b22605
• Publication Date: 2019-05-07T10:05:16Z
• Authors: Ping Wang; Chen Liu; Weiqiang Tang; Shixue Ren; Zhijun Chen; Yuanru Guo; Rahele Rostamian; Shuangliang Zhao; Jian Li; Shouxin Liu; Shujun Li
• Keywords: 01 natural sciences; 0104 chemical sciences

Carbon dots have wide applications in bioimaging, encryption, sensing, and light-emitting devices, but most preparations of carbon dots require complicated separation and purification steps. Here, a clustering-induced emission luminogen, sodium alginate, was covalently "glued" by ethylenediamine to prepare carbon dots on a 100 g scale, without any separation or purification. The conversion yield was as high as 94.7%. Theoretical calculations suggested that the fluorescence emission of as-prepared carbon dots (N-CDs) was mainly attributable to through-space conjugation between oxygen atoms and carbonyl moieties. The N-CDs were shown to have applications as a fluorescent ink for encryption and as a phosphor for white light-emitting diodes. This work provides a convenient method for the large-scale preparation of carbon dots and a new understanding of fluorescent emission of carbon dots.