Blue light emitting self-healable graphene quantum dot embedded hydrogels

Abstract

Graphene quantum dots (GQDs) embedded into synthesized Amoc (N-anthracenemethyloxycarbonyl) capped aromatic amino acid based units in completely aqueous environments exhibit blue light emitting self-healable hydrogels. These Amoc amino acid/GQD assemblies in hydrogel states encourage blue light emission under UV irradiation at a wavelength of 365 nm. The quenching in emission spectra reveals strong π-π stacking interactions within aromatic GQDs and Amoc-amino acids. Fluorescence spectra confirm the stabilization of GQDs on fibrils and electron microscopy images depict the distribution of GQDs on the nanofibrillar 3D networks. The self-healing properties and thixotropic nature of the hydrogels can be tuned by the inclusion of GQDs. © 2016 The Royal Society of Chemistry.