Researchers from the VSB-Technical University of Ostrava have participated in a breakthrough discovery regarding the photoluminescent properties of carbon dots (CDs), published in the prestigious journal Small. Scientists from the CEET Nanotechnology Centre and IT4Innovations National Supercomputing Center, together with colleagues from the Czech Advanced Technology and Research Institute (CATRIN) at Palacký University, found that after irradiation with light, magnetically active polaron states are formed in carbon dots, which can then be used for light-induced hydrogen peroxide production.
The main aim of the research was to investigate their photophysical and photocatalytic properties. The presence of magnetic polarons was revealed by experiments using electron paramagnetic resonance. “Subsequently, thanks to advanced quantum chemical calculations, we explained how polarons can be formed in the structures of carbon dots,” explained one of the authors of the article Michal Otyepka.
Magnetic polaron is a specially coupled state of the electron. Magnetic polarons have proven to be crucial in the photoproduction of hydrogen peroxide, a versatile compound with a wide range of applications in health care, environmental remediation, and energy. According to the authors of the study, the ability of carbon dots to convert light into catalytically active magnetic polarons can bring major advances in using these environmentally friendly nanomaterials, especially in the field of photocatalysis and technologies for converting solar energy into chemical energy. The study represents a significant step towards our understanding of CDs and their potential for the implementation of photoinduced chemical reactions.
The research results were published in a paper entitled “Magnetic Polaron States in Photoluminescent Carbon Dots Enable Hydrogen Peroxide Photoproduction”.