Two-dimensional metal-organic framework for post-synthetic immobilization of graphene quantum dots for photoluminescent sensing

You-Liang Chen; Darwin Kurniawan; Meng-Dian Tsai; Jhe-Wei Chang; Yu-Na Chang; Shang-Cheng Yang; Wei-Hung Chiang; Chung-Wei Kung

doi:10.1038/s42004-024-01192-5

Two-dimensional metal-organic framework for post-synthetic immobilization of graphene quantum dots for photoluminescent sensing

Commun Chem. 2024 May 11;7(1):108. doi: 10.1038/s42004-024-01192-5.

Authors

You-Liang Chen¹, Darwin Kurniawan², Meng-Dian Tsai¹, Jhe-Wei Chang¹, Yu-Na Chang¹, Shang-Cheng Yang¹, Wei-Hung Chiang^{2

3

4}, Chung-Wei Kung⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemical Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan City, Taiwan.
² Department of Chemical Engineering, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (NTUST), Taipei City, Taiwan.
³ Sustainable Electrochemical Energy Development (SEED) Center, NTUST, Taipei City, Taiwan.
⁴ Advanced Manufacturing Research Center, NTUST, Taipei City, Taiwan.
⁵ Department of Chemical Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan City, Taiwan. cwkung@mail.ncku.edu.tw.

Abstract

Immobilization of graphene quantum dots (GQDs) on a solid support is crucial to prevent GQDs from aggregation in the form of solid powder and facilitate the separation and recycling of GQDs after use. Herein, spatially dispersed GQDs are post-synthetically coordinated within a two-dimensional (2D) and water-stable zirconium-based metal-organic framework (MOF). Unlike pristine GQDs, the obtained GQDs immobilized on 2D MOF sheets show photoluminescence in both suspension and dry powder. Chemical and photoluminescent stabilities of MOF-immobilized GQDs in water are investigated, and the use of immobilized GQDs in the photoluminescent detection of copper ions is demonstrated. Findings here shed the light on the use of 2D MOFs as a platform to further immobilize GQDs with various sizes and distinct chemical functionalities for a range of applications.