Synthesis of Carbon Quantum Dots by Gas-liquid Plasma Using Ethanol as Precursor

This work demonstrates a simple and fast method for synthesizing carbon quantum dots (CQDs) at atmospheric pressure and room temperature by gas-liquid plasma. The method utilizes a pair of hollow stainless-steel electrodes to introduce argon (Ar) gas bubbles in ethanol, which greatly reduces difficulty of synthesis. The observation results showed that both crystallization and fluorescence properties of the CQDs were found to be altered by varying the gas flow rate. This may provide a technical guide for the further application of synthesizing CQDs by gas-liquid plasma.