Carbon Nanodots - Towards a Comprehensive Understanding of Their Photoluminescence

For the first time, a comprehensive report on the characterization carbon nanodots (CND), a novel class of nanocarbons is given.  Our microwave reactor synthesis provides mild and controlled conditions that afford CNDs with homogeneous and narrowly dispersed optical properties.  As such, they are well suited as a testbed for studies of the photophysics of carbon-based nanoscopic emitters, including electron transfer studies.  Our experimental work includes steady-state investigations, time-correlated single-photon counting, fluorescence up-conversion, and transient pump-probe absorption spectroscopy. It is rounded off by density-functional theory and semiempirical configuration-interaction calculations that provide significant additional insight.  This all leads to a sound understanding of the fundamental structure-property relationships for this novel type of material.