The aggregation-caused quenching has always limited the high concentration and solid-state applications of carbon nanodots. While the aggregation-induced emission effect, dominated by intramolecular motion, may be an effective means to solve this problem. Here, hydrophobic solid-state red-light carbon nanodots (M-CDs) with 95% yield are synthesized by a one-step hydrothermal method using 2,2'-dithiodibenzoic acid as the carbon source and manganese acetate as the dopant source. The disulfide bond of 2,2'-dithiodibenzoic acid serves as the symmetry center of molecular rotation and Mn catalyzes the synthesis of M-CDs, which promotes the formation of the central graphitic carbon structure. The M-CDs/agar hydrogel composites can achieve fluorescence transition behavior because of the special fluorescence transition properties of M-CDs. When this composite hydrogel is placed in water, water molecules contact with M-CDs through the network structure of the hydrogels, making the aggregated hydrogels of M-CDs fluorescence orange-red under 365 nm excitation. While in dimethyl sulfoxide, water molecules in the hydrogels network are replaced and the M-CDs fluoresce blue when dispersed, providing a potential application in information encryption. In addition, high-performance monochromatic light-emitting diode (LED) devices are prepared by compounding M-CDs with epoxy resin and coating them on 365 nm LED chips.
Keywords: aggregation-induced emission (AIE); carbon nanodots; hydrogels; light-emitting diodes (LEDs); solid-state red emission.
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