Preparation of Carbon Dots from Cellulose Using Ionic Liquid under Mild Condition

This research focused on the preparation of carbon dots (CDs) using cellulose hydrolysis in ionic liquid (IL) at a low temperature of 65 degrees C without additional treatments. The morphologies of the CDs were observed by TEM. The chemical structures and the optical properties were characterized by XPS, FT-IR, UV-vis and PL spectroscopies. As the cellulose was incubated longer in the IL, the size of the CDs was reduced. Besides, the core of the CD was simultaneously nitrogen-doped more with graphitic N, resulting in the increase of the quantum yield up to similar to 33 %. For the easier application of the CD in solid state, the CD embedded cellulose film was simply prepared via the one-pot dissolution. The prepared cellulose film showed excellent photoluminescence behaviors as well as the superior transparency of over 97 % in the visible light region.