Morphology Tunable Hybrid Carbon Nanomaterials with Solvatochromism

Abstract

The tunable photoluminescence of carbon-based nanomaterials has received much attention for a wide range of applications. Herein, we report a unique, broad-solvatochromic hybrid carbon nanosheet (CNS) synthesized through the hydrothermal carbonization of molecular precursors exploiting graphene oxide as a template, resulting in the formation of clusters of carbon nanorings on the surface of graphene-oxide nanosheets. Under UV and visible-light excitation, the hybrid CNS exhibited tunable emission spanning the wide range of colors in a series of solvents with different polarities. This interesting spectroscopic behavior was found to originate from hydrogen-bonding interactions between CNS and solvents, which eventually induced the morphological transition of CNS from 2-dimensional sheets to 3-dimensional crumpled morphologies affecting the lifetimes of emissive states. This novel carbon nanostructure may open up a new possibility in tailoring the photophysical properties of carbon nanomaterials.