Luminescent Sulfur Quantum Dots: Synthesis, Properties and Potential Applications

Abstract

Sulfur quantum dots (SQDs) represent a new class of luminescent nanomaterials. They have shown great potential in numerous application fields including sensing, cell imaging, photocatalysis, light emitting diodes and polymer nanocomposites, due to their unique composition, favorable optical properties, low toxicity, fine processability and low cost. This Minire-view summarizes the recent research progress on the synthesis, characterization, properties and applications of SQDs, especially those synthesized from elemental sulfur. Critical yet unsolved issues in the synthesis and applications of SQDs are also discussed. In addition, an outlook for future research trends of SQDs is presented.

Emergence of long afterglow and room temperature phosphorescence emissions from ultra-small sulfur dots

“…11,[16][17][18][19][20] Recently, S-dots have attracted great attention owing to their intricate electronic properties and promising applicability as emitting and catalytic materials. [21][22][23] Sulfur is earth-abundant and has been used in many fields such as the production of sulfuric acid, lithium-sulfur batteries, potassium-sulfur batteries, supercapacitors, and in sulfur-modified polymeric and organic transformation materials. 21,22,24,25 Furthermore, it is already well known that elemental sulfur usually possesses many fascinating properties such as high alkaline metal storage ability, high molar refraction, high transparency in the IR region, pesticide properties, and antioxidizing as well as antimicrobial activities.…”

“…[21][22][23] Sulfur is earth-abundant and has been used in many fields such as the production of sulfuric acid, lithium-sulfur batteries, potassium-sulfur batteries, supercapacitors, and in sulfur-modified polymeric and organic transformation materials. 21,22,24,25 Furthermore, it is already well known that elemental sulfur usually possesses many fascinating properties such as high alkaline metal storage ability, high molar refraction, high transparency in the IR region, pesticide properties, and antioxidizing as well as antimicrobial activities. 22,25,26 However, the luminescence nature of ultrasmall S-dots has been rarely explored to date as a potential alternative to traditional inorganic QDs.…”

Photoluminescence investigations of sulfur quantum dots synthesized by a bubbling-assisted strategy

“…16 Although these approaches accelerated the synthesis of monodispersed Sdots with excellent luminescence properties, the severe oxidation-reduction conditions prevented the characterization of reaction intermediates and concealed the relationships between the interfacial/surface structure and S-dots' PL properties. 16,17 In this work, well-dispersed luminescent S-dots are synthesized by a mild bubbling-assisted strategy, which offers an alternative to tune the S-dot surface properties. The bulk sulfur was etched into S 2À and polysulde by NaOH.…”

Regulation of Circularly Polarized Luminescence in Multicomponent Supramolecular Coassemblies

“…Quantum Dots (QDs) are nanoscale semiconductors. By applying a certain electric field or light pressure to this nanosemiconductor materials, they will emit luminescence with specific wavelengths, [36] which will change with semiconductor size. Therefore, the luminescence color and quantum yield of the emitted light could be controlled.…”