Colloidal N-Doped Graphene Quantum Dots with Tailored Luminescent Downshifting and Detection of UVA Radiation with Enhanced Responsivity

Luminescent downshifting (LDS) materials are in great demand for their applications in light conversion devices. In this work, by an ingenious chemical approach of in situ doping, N-doped graphene quantum dots (NGQDs) have been synthesized with tailored green photoluminescence (PL) under ultraviolet (UV) light excitation. The incorporation of N atoms in the form of pyridinic and graphitic C-N bonding into the sp(2)-hybridized graphitic framework of N-GQDs has led to tailored LDS via PL emissions. The LDS property of synthesized N-GQDs has been advantageously utilized to demonstrate enhanced responsivity (R) of a low-cost commercially available photoconductive cell (PC) for detection of UVA radiation through an indigenous technique. The linear optical responses of samples are optimized by varying the concentration and the dispersing medium. Also the N-GQDs are shown to be photostable in poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) hydrogel. A 60% enhancement in photocurrent of the PC-based photodetector under UV radiation has been obtained here by using N-GQDs/PVA as LDS material. Thus, detection of UVA radiation with a high specific detectivity (D*) of 9 X 10(13) Jones and responsivity (R) of 3 A W-1 has been demonstrated, which might open the opportunity of using this material in future energy conversion devices.