Synthesis of highly luminescent carbon dots from orange juice

In this study, the highly fluorescence carbon quantum dots (CQDs) were synthesized using the low-temperature hydrothermal carbonization method from orange juice mixed with ethanol using a custom autoclave with special conditions including (120 ° C temperature and 1 atmosphere pressure). The results obtained from tests achieved on the samples showed the following: X-ray diffraction analysis showed that the prepared carbon dots were of a non-crystalline nature, the FTIR spectra proved that the carbon dots possessed different types of surface functional groups such as C-O-C/C-O, C=C, C=O, C-H and O-H. The AFM and SEM measurements showed that the carbon dots had small particles with average size about 13 nm. The produced carbon dots have optical properties, are highly water-soluble, low-toxic and bio-compatible and operate on the principle of excitation dependent emission and can be used in many applications such as laser field and bio-imaging and so on. The heavy complex material can be mixed with CQDs or organic dyes to get the same behavior of laser threshold.