Electrogenerated Chemiluminescence and Electroluminescence of N-Doped Graphene Quantum Dots Fabricated from an Electrochemical Exfoliation Process in Nitrogen-Containing Electrolytes.

Artificial lighting sources are one of the most important technological developments for our modern lives; the search for cost-effective and efficient luminophores is therefore crucial to a sustainable future. Graphene quantum dots (GQDs) are carbon-based nanomaterials that exhibit exceptional optical and electronic properties, making them a prime candidate for a luminophore in a light-emitting device. Nitrogen-doped GQDs fabricated from a facile top-down electrochemical exfoliation process with a nitrogen-containing electrolyte in this report showed strong photoluminescent emission at 450 nm, and electrogenerated chemiluminescence at 660 nm in the presence of benzoyl peroxide as a coreactant. When introduced into solid-state light-emitting electrochemical cells, for the first time, the GQDs displayed a broad white emission centered at 610 nm, corresponding to Commision Internationale de l'eclairage (CIE) colour coordinates of (0.38, 0.36).