Facile Synthesis of Formate-Functionalized Graphene Quantum Dots

Graphene quantum dots have proven useful for a variety of applications due to their impressive bandgap tunability, which can be achieved through structural modification methods including edge functionalization and doping. Here, we investigate the functionalization of graphene quantum dots with formate esters using a method of noncatalyzed electrophilic substitution. We also examine the optical and structural properties of these formate-functionalized graphene quantum dots using UV-Vis Spectrophotometry, IR Spectroscopy, and NMR Spectroscopy, with the functionalization causing a redshift in absorption consistent with a reduction in bandgap. The findings in this paper have the potential to be used in applications ranging from single photon emission in quantum computing to tunable fluorescence in bioimaging.