Chlorine-Doped Graphene Quantum Dots with Enhanced Anti- and Pro-Oxidant Properties

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2019 Jun 19;11(24):21822-21829. doi: 10.1021/acsami.9b03194. Epub 2019 Jun 4.

Abstract

Production or elimination of highly reactive oxygen species is critical in antioxidant, photodynamic, therapeutic, and antibacterial applications. Recent studies have demonstrated that graphene quantum dots (GQDs) possess anti- and pro-oxidant properties simultaneously. However, their efficiency is low. Here, we report chlorine-doped GQDs (Cl-GQDs) with a tunable Cl doping amount and improved anti- and pro-oxidant activities. The scavenging performance and the free radical-produced efficiency of Cl-GQDs are about 7-fold and 3-fold, respectively, higher than those of the undoped GQDs. Meanwhile, Cl-GQDs are considered to be promising for antibacterial applications because of their enhanced singlet oxygen generating ability. We hope that this study could provide a new strategy to develop nanomaterials for application in the anti- and pro-oxidant field.

Keywords: antibacterial; enhanced antioxidant; graphene quantum dots; heteroatom doping.