Issue 2, 2013

Identifying the fluorescence of graphene oxide

Abstract

Treatment of graphene oxide (GO) with sodium hydroxide separates the material into two components: a colourless, but highly fluorescent, oxidative debris and a darker non-fluorescent material containing the graphene-like sheets. The as-produced GO shows a weak, broad photo-luminescence while the oxidative debris fluoresces more intensely, blue-shifted relative to the as-produced GO, with a dispersive emission profile shifting to lower wavelength as the excitation wavelength is decreased. Such excitation wavelength dependent photoluminescence is characteristic of ensembles of nanometre-sized carbon based fluorophores. By contrast, analysis of the fluorescence as a function of excitation wavelength for as-produced graphene oxide shows a single non-dispersive peak, consistent with broadening of the emission from a single species rather than an ensemble of quantum dots within the graphene sheet.

Graphical abstract: Identifying the fluorescence of graphene oxide

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
19 Sep 2012
Accepted
25 Oct 2012
First published
25 Oct 2012

J. Mater. Chem. C, 2013,1, 338-342

Identifying the fluorescence of graphene oxide

H. R. Thomas, C. Vallés, R. J. Young, I. A. Kinloch, N. R. Wilson and J. P. Rourke, J. Mater. Chem. C, 2013, 1, 338 DOI: 10.1039/C2TC00234E

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