Date of Award
5-2018
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Chemistry
Committee Member
Dr. Ya-Ping Sun, Committee Chair
Committee Member
Dr. Brain Dominy
Committee Member
Dr. Andrew G. Tennyson
Committee Member
Dr. Daniel C. Whitehead
Abstract
Carbon dots, a new class of benign fluorescent nanomaterials, have been widely studied over the past ten years, as reflected by the recent exponential growth of publications. Such properties as their optical performance, physicochemical and photochemical stability, and aqueous solubility enable them to serve as bright optical probes in a variety of imaging and sensing applications. This dissertation explores the essence of carbon dots, systemically comparing them to graphene quantum dots, thus providing a reexamination of the former. It provides an enhanced understanding of carbon dots from a structural and mechanistic perspective based on the results from their functionalization and defunctionalization. This study also analyzes the advantages of the optical and redox properties of carbon nanoparticles in comparison to other zero-dimensional carbon allotropes, specifically fullerenes, functionalized by electronic polymers. The results should prove interesting and valuable for the further application of carbon dots in various optoelectronic devices and systems.
Recommended Citation
Yang, Fan, "Preparation and Studies of Carbon Dots" (2018). All Dissertations. 2093.
https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_dissertations/2093