Fullerene
cages are known as being able to participate in radical
initiated copolymerization reactions with vinyl monomers for polymer-functionalized
fullerenes. In this work, poly(
N
-vinylcarbazole)
(PVK) was selected as a representative of electronic polymers in the
functionalization of fullerene C
60
by the same copolymerization
reaction to yield the PVK–C
60
. Similarly found was
that small carbon nanoparticles could also participate in the same
copolymerization reaction for the nanoparticles to be surface-functionalized
and -passivated by the attached PVK polymers, which are structurally
adhering to the general definition on carbon dots (CDots), thus PVK–CDots.
In the comparison between PVK–CDots and PVK–C
60
, the former was found to be more absorptive and therefore more effective
in photon harvesting across the visible spectral region and also brightly
fluorescent, orders of magnitude more so than the latter. Similar
to the PVK–C
60
and C
60
cages in general,
the PVK–CDots exhibited significant photoinduced electron accepting
characteristics and, at the same time, also extraordinary electron
donating abilities that are not available to fullerenes. Because fullerene-based
composites with electronic polymers including PVK have found significant
applications in optoelectronic devices and systems, the prospect of
CDots represented by the PVK–CDots for similar purposes is
discussed.
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