Solid-state nitrogen-doped carbon nanoparticles with tunable emission prepared by a microwave-assisted method

Tunable emissive solid-state carbon nanoparticles (CNPs) have been successfully synthesized by a facile synthesis through microwave irradiation. Modulating microwave interaction with the sample to generate abrupt localized heating is a long-term challenge to tailor the photoluminescence properties of CNPs. This study systematically revealed that the sample temperature through microwave irradiation plays a crucial role in controlling the photoluminescence properties over other reaction conditions, such as irradiation time and microwave duty cycle. When the sample temperature reached 155 °C in less than three minutes, the CNP sample exhibited a green-yellowish emission with the highest quantum yield (QY) of 14.6%. Time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) study revealed that the tunable photoluminescence properties of the CNPs can possibly be ascribed to their nitrogen concentrations, which were dictated by the sample temperature during irradiation. This study opens up a promising route for the well-controlled synthesis of luminescent CNPs through microwave irradiation.