We present a detailed investigation on the effect of functional group modulation at the edges of carbon quantum dots (CQDs) on the fluorescence from the CQDs. The CQDs attached by N, S, and P elements are synthesized via pyrolysis of a mixture of citric acid and NH 3 H 2 O, H 2 SO 4 , and H 3 PO 4 , respectively. Thus, part of –COOH at the edges of CQDs can be converted into –C=O and functional groups such as –NH 2 , –SO 2 , –HSO 3 , and –H 2 PO 4 can connect to the carbon bonds. We find that the formation of the N/S/P-CQDs can reduce the amount of –COOH that attaches to the edges of sp 2 -conjugated π -domains located at centers of these CQDs. This effect can result in the reduction of the non-radiative recombination for electronic transition in these CQDs. As a result, the quantum yield (QY) for fluorescence from the CQDs can be efficiently enhanced. We demonstrate experimentally that the QYs for N/S/P-CQDs can reach up to 18.7%, 29.7%, and 10.3%, respectively, in comparison to 9% for these without functional group modulation. This work can provide a practical experimental approach in improving the optical properties of fluorescent CQDs.

We present an investigation on carbon quantum dots (CQDs) synthesized from wastewater induced during the production of tofu. We find that tofu wastewater is a good source of raw material in making fluorescent CQDs. The corresponding CQDs can be fabricated simply via hydrothermal reaction to carbonize the organic matter in the yellow serofluid of tofu wastewater. Two sorts of CQDs can be obtained within the deionized water and NaOH solution, respectively, where the CQDs in water (NaOH solution) can emit blue (green) light under the UV irradiation. It is found from X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) that the basic difference between these two sorts of CQDs is the contents of C–O and C=O bonds on the surface of the CQDs. This difference can cause different features of the photoluminescence (PL) spectra of the CQDs. On the basis of the obtained results from the XPS and PL measurements, we propose a mechanism in understanding and explaining the photon-induced light emission from CQDs. This study is relevant to the fabrication and application of fluorescent CQDs as, e.g., light display materials.

The optimization model of limited luminous efficacy (LLE) for correlated color temperature (CCT) tunable phosphor-coated white light-emitting diodes (pc-W LEDs) consisting of blue chips, green and yellow phosphors, and red chips, including downconversion energy loss, has been developed under the constraint of a designated color-rendering index (CRI) and a special CRI of R9 for strong red. The optimal spectra of pc-W LEDs are obtained with a nonlinear program for maximizing LLE under conditions of both CRI and R9 above 90, 95, and 98 at CCTs of 2700-6500 K. The pc-W LEDs with LLE>301  lm/W for both CRI and R9 above 90, LLE>290  lm/W for both CRI and R9 above 95, and LLE>276  lm/W for both CRI and R9 above 98 could be achieved at CCTs of 2700-6500 K. The recommended peak wavelengths and full widths at half-maximum (FWHMs) for the current LEDs and phosphors and their photometric and colorimetric performances are presented.

Graphical abstract

This is a comment on a recently published paper by Lin at el. [Optics Express 22(S4), A1029 (2014)]. The original article suffers three fatal defects as follow: (1) Some peak distortions are not present in the spectral loss simulation due to large wavelength step; (2) The correlations between the modulated deviations (MDs) and the color rendering indices (CRIs) are poor at high CRI region; (3) How to determine the optimal peak wavelengths of multi-peak LED in the guideline for the CRI optimization does not make any statement. There are poor correlations between the MDs and CRIs at high CRI region.