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Nano Research 2016, 9(2): 549-559 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-015-0936-2
Research Article | Issue | Published: 11 December 2015

Exciton dynamics in luminescent carbon nanodots: Electron–hole exchange interaction

Show Author's Information Bo Peng1,†( ),  Xin Lu1,  Shi Chen1,  Cheng Hon Alfred Huan1,  Qihua Xiong1,2( ),  Evren Mutlugun3,  Hilmi Volkan Demir3,  Siu Fung Yu4
Division of Physics and Applied PhysicsSchool of Physical and Mathematical SciencesNanyang Technological UniversitySingapore637371Singapore
NOVITASNanoelectronics Centre of ExcellenceSchool of Electrical and Electronic EngineeringNanyang Technological UniversitySingapore639798Singapore
LUMINOUSCentre of Excellence for Semiconductor Lighting and DisplaysSchool of Electrical and Electronic EngineeringNanyang Technological UniversitySingapore639798Singapore
Department of Applied Physicsthe Hong Kong Polytechnic UniversityHong Hum, Hong Kong SARChina

†Present address: National Engineering Research Center of Electromagnetic Radiation Control Materials, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, No.4, Block 2, North Jianshe Road, Chengdu 610054, China

Keywords:
pyrolysis, photoluminescence, carbon dots, electron–hole exchange interaction, energy splitting
Cite this article:
Peng B, Lu X, Chen S, et al. Exciton dynamics in luminescent carbon nanodots: Electron–hole exchange interaction. Nano Research, 2016, 9(2): 549-559. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-015-0936-2
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Abstract Full text About this article

The electron–hole exchange interaction significantly influences the optical properties of excitons and radiative decay. However, exciton dynamics in luminescent carbon dots (Cdots) is still not clear. In this study, we have developed a simple and efficient one-step strategy to synthesize luminescent Cdots using the pyrolysis of oleylamine. The sp2 clusters of a few aromatic rings are responsible for the observed blue photoluminescence. The size of these clusters can be tuned by controlling the reaction time, and the energy gap between the π–π* states of the sp2 domains decreases as the sp2 cluster size increases. More importantly, the strong electron–hole exchange interaction results in the splitting of the exciton states of the sp2 clusters into the singlet-bright and triplet-dark states with an energy difference ΔE, which decreases with increasing sp2 cluster size owing to the reduction of the confinement energy and the suppression of the electron–hole exchange interaction.


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About this article

Exciton dynamics in luminescent carbon nanodots: Electron–hole exchange interaction

Show Author's information Bo Peng1,†( ), Xin Lu1, Shi Chen1, Cheng Hon Alfred Huan1, Qihua Xiong1,2( ), Evren Mutlugun3, Hilmi Volkan Demir3, Siu Fung Yu4
Division of Physics and Applied PhysicsSchool of Physical and Mathematical SciencesNanyang Technological UniversitySingapore637371Singapore
NOVITASNanoelectronics Centre of ExcellenceSchool of Electrical and Electronic EngineeringNanyang Technological UniversitySingapore639798Singapore
LUMINOUSCentre of Excellence for Semiconductor Lighting and DisplaysSchool of Electrical and Electronic EngineeringNanyang Technological UniversitySingapore639798Singapore
Department of Applied Physicsthe Hong Kong Polytechnic UniversityHong Hum, Hong Kong SARChina

†Present address: National Engineering Research Center of Electromagnetic Radiation Control Materials, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, No.4, Block 2, North Jianshe Road, Chengdu 610054, China

Abstract

The electron–hole exchange interaction significantly influences the optical properties of excitons and radiative decay. However, exciton dynamics in luminescent carbon dots (Cdots) is still not clear. In this study, we have developed a simple and efficient one-step strategy to synthesize luminescent Cdots using the pyrolysis of oleylamine. The sp2 clusters of a few aromatic rings are responsible for the observed blue photoluminescence. The size of these clusters can be tuned by controlling the reaction time, and the energy gap between the π–π* states of the sp2 domains decreases as the sp2 cluster size increases. More importantly, the strong electron–hole exchange interaction results in the splitting of the exciton states of the sp2 clusters into the singlet-bright and triplet-dark states with an energy difference ΔE, which decreases with increasing sp2 cluster size owing to the reduction of the confinement energy and the suppression of the electron–hole exchange interaction.

Keywords: pyrolysis, photoluminescence, carbon dots, electron–hole exchange interaction, energy splitting

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Publication history
Copyright
Acknowledgements

Publication history

Received: 22 July 2015
Revised: 29 October 2015
Accepted: 30 October 2015
Published: 11 December 2015
Issue date: February 2016

Copyright

© Tsinghua University Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2015

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

Q. H. X. gratefully thanks the strong support from Singapore National Research Foundation through a Competitive Research Program (No. NRF-CRP-6-2010-2), and Singapore Ministry of Education via two Tier2 grants (Nos. MOE2011-T2-2-051 and MOE2011-T2-2-085) and a Tier1 grant (No. 2013-T1-002-232).

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