Optical investigation of degradation of graphene oxide in alkaline environment: evidence of two distinct photon-emitting phases in visible region.

Abstract

In this work we show a procedure of treating of the graphene oxide in alkaline environment as a function of the treatment time in order to obtain novel structures with strong luminescence properties, water-stable, useful as potential replacement for critical raw materials employed as example in optical and optoelectronic devices or for diagnostic and therapeutic technology. These structures have distinct blue and green-luminescence properties which derived most likely from different structural conformations, one associable with that of carbon quantum dots (or as an alternative to that of the Oxidative Debris), the other, lighter and more similar to organic compounds, reported in literature as fulvic-like molecules, but whose nature has to be further investigated. We show that the lighter fraction has a dual mechanism of photoemission: the excitation-independent PL for excitation wavelength within 350 nm and the excitation-dependent component for excitation wavelength ranging in the visible spectrum. The PL dual behaviour could depend on fluorescent nanoclusters composed by specific organic fluorophores with a carbonaceous core. FTIR analysis shows reasonably the same functional groups unless of some difference discussed in the text, meanwhile UV-Vis and PL analysis clearly highlight two distinct emissions (450 nm and 530 nm) in the visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum. Excitation-dependent photoluminescence, water stability and organic fluorescent nanostructures are issues particularly required for application in the biological field but also in materials science.