Red Emission Carbon Dots Prepared by 1,4-Diaminonaphthalene for Light-Emitting Diode Application and Metal Ion Detection

Carbon dots (CDs), as the most important type of carbon materials, have been widely used in many fields because of their unique fluorescence characteristics and excellent properties of biocompatibility. In previous studies, the fluorescence of CDs was mainly concentrated in the blue and green, whereas the red fluorescence was relatively less. Herein, we prepared efficient red-emitting CDs from 1,4-diaminonaphthalene using solvothermal methods. We discussed the effects of different solvothermal solvents on CDs. The results show that CDs prepared with octane and acetone as reaction media have the best fluorescence properties. The CDs dispersed in different organic solvents exhibited tunable emission across a wide spectrum from 427 nm to 679 nm. We further demonstrated the application of red light-emitting diode (LED) optoelectronics and fluorescence detection of Fe(3+) in aqueous solution.