C-Dot-Embedded SiO2 Concentric Microspheres for Bright Fluorescent Photonic Pigments

A simple yet powerful approach to obtain structural coloris theamorphous assembly of colloidal spheres, which is also referred toas the amorphous photonic structure or photonic glasses (PGs). Additionally,the functionalization of the colloidal spheres as building blockscan further endow the resulting PGs with multifunctions. Herein, wehave developed a facile strategy to prepare SiO2 colloidalspheres with concentrically embedded carbon dots (CDs). Notably, theCDs are prepared and silane-functionalized simultaneously, which enablesthe perfect incorporation of CDs into the Si-O network duringthe Sto''ber reaction and thus leads to the formation of a concentricSiO(2)/CD interlayer within the obtained SiO2 spheres.Moreover, the obtained SiO2/CD spheres can be applied asphotonic pigments by assembling them into PGs, which exhibit structuralcolor under daylight and fluorescence under UV illumination. Withincorporation of carbon black, the structural color saturation andfluorescence intensity can be further manipulated. Owing to the combinationof structural colored PGs and fluorescent CDs, our study can offerinspiration for color- and fluorescence-related applications suchas sensing, in vivo imaging, LEDs, and anticounterfeiting.

Automated summary

A simple yet powerful method to obtain structural color is the assembly of colloidal spheres, which can be functionalized to exhibit various properties. This study developed a strategy to prepare SiO2 colloid particles embedded with carbon dots, which can be assembled into photonic glasses to display structural color and fluorescence. By incorporating carbon black, the saturation of structural color and fluorescence intensity can be further manipulated. This study provides inspiration for color- and fluorescence-related applications such as sensing, in vivo imaging, LEDs, and anticounterfeiting.