Observation of pH-, solvent-, spin-, and excitation-dependent blue photoluminescence from carbon nanoparticles

Highly blue luminescent carbon nanoparticles with photo-luminescence quantum yields of 31.6%-40.6% were prepared by a one-step pyrolytic route from ethylenediamine-tetraacetic acid salts and a unique emission that is strongly dependent on pH, solvent, spin, and excitation wavelength was observed.