Fast Microplasma Synthesis of Blue Luminescent Carbon Quantum Dots at Ambient Conditions

Abstract

Fast, environmentally friendly synthesis of blue‐luminescent carbon quantum dots (C‐dots) at ambient conditions (i.e., room temperature and atmospheric pressure) is presented. The as synthesized C‐dots are of a relatively size uniform distribution with a peak at approximately 2.4 nm. The photoluminescence show that the emission peak of C‐dots shifts from 443 nm to more than 456 nm as the excitation sources is varied from 360–410 nm. The majority of C‐dots produced are predominantly graphitic in nature based on the Raman spectroscopy. The plasma‐assisted non‐equilibrium reactive chemistry induces chemical reactions and accelerates the C‐dot formation process.