One-pot microwave-assisted green synthesis of amine-functionalized graphene quantum dots for high visible light photocatalytic application

Abstract

Nowadays, graphene quantum dots (GQDs) have gained a huge interest in the field of visible-range photocatalysts because of their tunable band gap and stable photochemical properties. In this work, amine-functionalized GQDs (AGQDs) were successfully prepared by one-step microwave-assisted conversion of glucose, H2O2, and NH3 solution. The obtained quantum dots possess the high quality of graphene structure with the average size of 3.78 nm as well as exhibit a strong green fluorescence with a high quantum yield. Interestingly, the amine-functionalized dots perform outstanding visible-light absorption. To further investigate photocatalytic properties, a composite of AGQDs and TiO2 was then prepared by a simple mixing route. The hybrid material showed high catalytic activity of dye degradation under visible light irradiation, which indicates the key role of AGQDs in enhancing light absorption and induced electron–hole separation. The current study may open a new way for construction of effective visible light photocatalytic systems with a cost-effective, simple approach.