-In line with the intensive research on GQDs and N-GQDs, we report here a facile one step synthesis of GQDs and N-GQDs from the hydrothermal carbonization of citric acid (CA) in the presence of ammonia.
-Without the use of a strong acid, oxidant and other chemical reagent, the GQDs and N-GQDs were synthesized in an aqueous solution, implying the process proposed here is relatively simple and environmentally friendly.
- The N-GQDs synthesized here have a uniform size distribution of 3–4 nm with a thickness of a few graphene layers, and the nitrogen atoms were successfully doped into the graphene lattice.
- Furthermore, the prepared GQDs and N-GQDs show different fluorescence of green and blue colors, respectively, due to the electronic structure change by the successful
introduction of nitrogen atoms.
- With these feature of the prepared GQDs, we have also demonstrated a novel fluorescent
sensing application of N-GQDs for detection of Fe3+ ions.