Ultralong lifetime and efficient room temperature phosphorescent carbon dots through multi-confinement structure design

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 11; no. 1; p. 5591
• Main Authors: Sun, Yuqiong, Liu, Shuting, Sun, Luyi, Wu, Shuangshuang, Hu, Guangqi, Pang, Xiaoliang, Smith, Andrew T., Hu, Chaofan, Zeng, Songshan, Wang, Weixing, Liu, Yingliang, Zheng, Mingtao
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 05.11.2020; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 639/301/357/354; 639/638/298/398; Carbon; Carbon dots; Chemical bonds; Confinement; Deactivation; Design; Efficiency; Humanities and Social Sciences; multidisciplinary; Oxidants; Oxidizing agents; Phosphorescence; Quantum efficiency; Room temperature; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Stability
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-19422-4

Room temperature phosphorescence materials have inspired extensive attention owing to their great potential in optical applications. However, it is hard to achieve a room temperature phosphorescence material with simultaneous long lifetime and high phosphorescence quantum efficiency. Herein, multi-confined carbon dots were designed and fabricated, enabling room temperature phosphorescence material with simultaneous ultralong lifetime, high phosphorescence quantum efficiency, and excellent stability. The multi-confinement by a highly rigid network, stable covalent bonding, and 3D spatial restriction efficiently rigidified the triplet excited states of carbon dots from non-radiative deactivation. The as-designed multi-confined carbon dots exhibit ultralong lifetime of 5.72 s, phosphorescence quantum efficiency of 26.36%, and exceptional stability against strong oxidants, acids and bases, as well as polar solvents. This work provides design principles and a universal strategy to construct metal-free room temperature phosphorescence materials with ultralong lifetime, high phosphorescence quantum efficiency, and high stability for promising applications, especially under harsh conditions. For room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) materials to reach their potential for optical applications, new materials with improved performance must be realized. Here, the authors report multi-confined carbon dots as high stability RTP materials with long afterglow lifetime & high efficiency.