Coal as an abundant source of graphene quantum dots

Coal is the most abundant and readily combustible energy resource being used worldwide. However, its structural characteristic creates a perception that coal is only useful for producing energy via burning. Here we report a facile approach to synthesize tunable graphene quantum dots from various typ...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature communications 2013-12, Vol.4 (1), p.2943-2943, Article 2943
Main Authors: Ye, Ruquan, Xiang, Changsheng, Lin, Jian, Peng, Zhiwei, Huang, Kewei, Yan, Zheng, Cook, Nathan P., Samuel, Errol L.G., Hwang, Chih-Chau, Ruan, Gedeng, Ceriotti, Gabriel, Raji, Abdul-Rahman O., Martí, Angel A., Tour, James M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
121/143
140/146
639/301/1023
639/301/357/1017
639/301/357/918
Carbon
Carbon - chemistry
Chemistry
Coal
Fourier transforms
Graphene
Graphite
Graphite - chemistry
Humanities and Social Sciences
Hydrogen-Ion Concentration
Materials Testing
Microscopy, Electron, Scanning
Microscopy, Electron, Transmission
multidisciplinary
Nanotechnology
Quantum Dots
Scanning electron microscopy
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Temperature
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Summary:Coal is the most abundant and readily combustible energy resource being used worldwide. However, its structural characteristic creates a perception that coal is only useful for producing energy via burning. Here we report a facile approach to synthesize tunable graphene quantum dots from various types of coal, and establish that the unique coal structure has an advantage over pure sp 2 -carbon allotropes for producing quantum dots. The crystalline carbon within the coal structure is easier to oxidatively displace than when pure sp 2 -carbon structures are used, resulting in nanometre-sized graphene quantum dots with amorphous carbon addends on the edges. The synthesized graphene quantum dots, produced in up to 20% isolated yield from coal, are soluble and fluorescent in aqueous solution, providing promise for applications in areas such as bioimaging, biomedicine, photovoltaics and optoelectronics, in addition to being inexpensive additives for structural composites. Coal is widely used for energy generation, but has not been considered for possible functional materials. Here, the authors report the one-step formation of graphene quantum dots from coal at yields of up to 20%, which is advantageous when compared with their syntheses from sp 2 -type carbon structures.
ISSN:2041-1723
2041-1723
DOI:10.1038/ncomms3943