Synthesis of carbon dots from biogas-plant-derived carbon residue by solvothermal method

Abstract

Abstract To effectively utilize waste biomass, such as food waste and kitchen waste, conversion to renewable energy, such as biogas using methane fermentation has been put into practical use. However, only a portion of the waste is converted into biogas, and most of the waste remains as a residue, the main component of which is carbon. We focused on biogas-plant-derived carbon residues (BPC) as precursors for carbon dots (CDs). CDs were successfully synthesized from BPC using a solvothermal method and high-quality blue-emitting CDs were extracted using column chromatography. In addition, the emission wavelength was tuned by modifying the CD surface. This communication shows that BPC has high potential as an environmentally friendly precursor for CD synthesis.