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Reduced-sized monolayer carbon nitride nanosheets for highly improved photoresponse for cell imaging and photocatalysis

具有显著增**光响应的小尺寸单层石墨相氮化碳纳米片用于细胞成像及光催化

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Abstract

Two-dimensional graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) nanosheets (GCNNs) have been considered as an attractive metal-free semiconductor because of their superior catalytic, optical, and electronic properties. However, it is still challenging to prepare monolayer GCNNs with a reduced lateral size in nanoscale. Herein, a highly efficient ultrasonic technique was used to prepare nanosized monolayer graphitic carbon nitride nanosheets (NMGCNs) with a thickness of around 0.6 nm and an average lateral size of about 55 nm. With a reduced lateral size yet monolayer thickness, NMGCNs show unique photo-responsive properties as compared to both large-sized GCNNs and GCN quantum dots. A dispersion of NMGCNs in water has good stability and exhibits strong blue fluorescence with a high quantum yield of 32%, showing good biocompatibility for cell imaging. Besides, compared to the multilayer GCNNs, NMGCNs show a highly improved photocatalysis under visible light irradiation. Overall, NMGCNs, characterized with monolayer and nanosized lateral dimension, fill the gap between large size (very high aspect ratio) and quantum dot-like counterparts, and show great potential applications as sensors, photo-related and electronic devices.

摘要

不含金属的二维石墨相氮化碳纳米片由于具有优异的催化、光学及电学性能而受到研究者的广泛关注. 然而制备纳米级尺寸的单层石墨相氮化碳纳米片仍然存在挑战. 本文采用一种高效超声方法制备了横向尺寸约为55 nm, 厚度约为0.6 nm的单层石墨相氮化碳纳米片(NMGCNs). 由于其纳米级尺寸及单层片状结构, NMGCNs表现出与大尺寸纳米片和量子点显著不同的光响应特性. NMGCNs的水分散溶液具有良好的稳定性能和优异的荧光性能, 荧光量子产率可达32%, 所以可用于细胞荧光成像. 此外, NMGCNs表现出比多层石墨相氮化碳纳米片更优异的可见光催化性能. 独特的小尺寸及单层超薄结构使得NMGCNs在传感器和光电子等领域都具有潜在应用前景.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (2014CB932400), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51525204 and 51302274), Shenzhen Basic Research Project (ZDSYS20140509172959981), and the Key Laboratory of Advanced Materials of Ministry of Education (2016AML02).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shenzhen Key Laboratory for Graphene-based Materials, Graduate School at Shenzhen, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen, 518055, China

    Qinghua Liang  (梁庆华), Feiyu Kang  (康飞宇) & Quan-Hong Yang  (杨全红)

  2. Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Bei**g, 100190, China

    Qinghua Liang  (梁庆华) & Zhi Li  (**智)

  3. Key Laboratory of Advanced Materials (Ministry of Education), School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University, Bei**g, 100084, China

    Qinghua Liang  (梁庆华), Yu Bai  (白宇), Zheng-Hong Huang  (黄**宏) & Feiyu Kang  (康飞宇)

  4. School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tian** University, Tian**, 300072, China

    Quan-Hong Yang  (杨全红)

Authors
  1. Qinghua Liang  (梁庆华)
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  2. Zhi Li  (**智)
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  3. Yu Bai  (白宇)
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  4. Zheng-Hong Huang  (黄**宏)
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  5. Feiyu Kang  (康飞宇)
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  6. Quan-Hong Yang  (杨全红)
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Zheng-Hong Huang  (黄**宏) or Quan-Hong Yang  (杨全红).

Additional information

Qinghua Liang received his Bachelor’s degree from Southwest University in 2009 and Master’s degree from Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry of Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2012. He obtained his PhD from Tsinghua University under the supervision of Prof. Quan-Hong Yang. His research interest focuses on the synthesis and application of carbon-based and carbon-derived materials for energy storage and environmental protection.

Quan-Hong Yang was born in 1972 and joined Tian** University as a full professor of nanomaterials in 2006. He is now also leading a graphene lab as a co-PI at Tsinghua-Berkeley Shenzhen Institute (TBSI).His research is totally related to novel carbon materials, from porous carbons, tubular carbons to sheet-like graphenes with their applications in energy storage and environmental protection. See http://nanoyang.tju.edu.cn for more details.

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40843_2016_5131_MOESM1_ESM.pdf

Reduced-sized Monolayer Carbon Nitride Nanosheets with Highly Improved Photoresponse for Cell Imaging and Photocatalysis

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Liang, Q., Li, Z., Bai, Y. et al. Reduced-sized monolayer carbon nitride nanosheets for highly improved photoresponse for cell imaging and photocatalysis. Sci. China Mater. 60, 109–118 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40843-016-5131-9

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