Open AccessSynthesis and characterization of carbon dots from coconut shell by optimizing the hydrothermal carbonization process
Author(s) -
K. Abinaya,
S. K. Rajkishore,
A. Lakshmanan,
Rangasamy Anandham,
P. Dhananchezhiyan,
M. Praghadeesh
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of applied and natural science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2231-5209
pISSN - 0974-9411
DOI - 10.31018/jans.v13i4.2916
Subject(s) - hydrothermal carbonization , materials science , carbonization , carbon fibers , fourier transform infrared spectroscopy , diffractometer , hydrothermal circulation , nanotechnology , chemical engineering , scanning electron microscope , high resolution transmission electron microscopy , selected area diffraction , transmission electron microscopy , composite material , composite number , engineering
Coconut shell is one of the major agro-by products vis-a-vis agro-waste generated by coconut processing units. At present, Coconut shells are largely utilized as feed material for thermal power conversion by various allied industrial sectors, which is a highly energy inefficient and ecologically unfriendly process. The present study aimed to generate activated carbon dots/ carbon nanomaterials with a wide range of potential applications through a relatively less energy dependant hydrothermal carbonization process. Hydrothermal carbonization is a one-step, simple, low cost and environmental friendly approach to obtain carbon dots. The findings demonstrate that coconut shells when subjected to hydrothermal carbonization process at 250ᵒC for 6 h produced uniform-sized, stable, negatively charged and amorphous forms of carbon dots. Characterization of carbon dots using High-Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HR-TEM), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Selected Area Electron Diffraction (SAED), X- ray Diffractometer (XRD), UV- Visible Spectroscopy, Particle Size Analyzer (PSA), Brunauer–Emmett-Teller (BET) Analyzer, Elemental Dispersive X-ray (EDX) analyzer and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) had conclusively confirmed the versatility of the carbon dots generation process and were able to achieve stable 2 nm-sized, spherical shaped carbon dots with numerous downstream applications. The study will help the conversion of agro-waste coconut shells into useful bio-based fluorescent carbon dots.