Fabrication of strongly fluorescent graphene quantum dots via liquid phase laser ablation

Graphene quantum dots (GQDs), the zero dimensional (0D) single nanostructures have many exciting technological applications such as bio imaging probes, sensors, light emitting devices, solar cells etc. Here we are proposing a new, one pot, facile and ecofriendly synthesis approach for fabricating GQDs via Pulsed Laser Ablation (PLA) of an organic solvent without any catalyst. It is a promising synthesis choice to prepare GQDs because of its fast production, lack of byproducts & further purification and also the control over the product by accurate tuning of laser parameters. We have employed a 355nm Nd:YAG laser for the ablation. We found that the obtained (GQDs) exhibits greater fluorescence and less toxicity than the other standard quantum dots and which is expected to have potential applications in optoelectronics and light-harvesting devices.