Multicolor Emissive Carbon Quantum Dots/ Tb3+ @SiO2 matrices for Solid Lighting Applications

We synthesized carbon quantum dots (CQDs) showing excitation dependent emission by the environmentally-friendly one-step solvothermal route. TEM micrographs confirmed the formation of carbon quantum dots with graphitic cores with an average core size of 3.5 nm. At 370 nm excitation wavelength, significant luminescence quenching is produced by Fe³⁺ and Cu²⁺ ions. Besides, exotic optical profiles of CQDs opens up its possibility in anti-counterfeiting and data storage applications as invisible security ink. Moreover, CQD/Tb ³⁺ embedded silica matrices are fabricated with efficient spectral tuning over the entire visible spectrum. Under broad UV excitation wavelengths, CQD/Tb ³⁺ glasses exhibit color tuning from blue (0.1952, 0.2328) to near white region (0.2201, 0.3106) which illustrates the photo luminescence color tuning (PLCT) behavior. The results facilitate the potential application of multicolor-emissive CQDs to develop solid multicolor emitting displays and panels.