Controlled Emission of Carbon Quantum Dots Derived from Waste Silk Sericin

Recently, nitrogen rich carbon quantum dots gaining considerable attention due to their extraordinary optoelectronic properties, specifically the enhancement in quantum efficiency of photoluminescence emission. Here the synthesis of multicolor emission of nitrogen rich carbon quantum dots from silk sericin is presented. These quantum dots exhibit blue, green, yellow, and orange emissions with a quantum yield close to 67%, 38%, 16%, and 9.6%, respectively, due to variation in carbonization temperature. The detailed characterization studies show that the multicolor emission of carbon quantum dots is due to both quantum confinement of particles and surface defects generated by surface oxidation. Moreover, these nanoparticles are photostable, biocompatible, non‐toxic, and water soluble, and hence can be the promising materials for optoelectronic devices, bioimaging, biosensing, etc. Waste sericin can be effectively utilized to produce multicolor emitting nitrogen rich carbon quantum dots (CQDs) by a simple thermal decomposition method. With the engineering of particle size and chemical composition through optimized reaction conditions, a wide tuneable fluorescence is achieved. These CQDs are no‐toxic and biocompatible with a good fluorescence and hence can be important materials for various applications.