Photoinduced charge transfer from Carbon Dots to Graphene in solid composite

The emission in solid phase of Carbon Dots (CDs) deposited by drop-casting technique is investigated by means of micro-photoluminescence. Graphene and SiO2 are used as substrates, and the influence of their different nature - conductive or insulating - on the emission of CDs is highlighed. In particular, a systematic loss of efficiency in the emission of CDs on graphene is found, suggesting a CD-graphene interaction possibly due to a photoinduced electron transfer between the surface states of CDs and the conduction band of graphene. Finally, thanks to the negligible influence on CDs emission, SiO2 substrate is used as support to perform thermal processing of CDs in solid phase, showing the possibility to modulate the CDs surface composition, and therefore, their emission.