Green Synthesis of Highly Fluorescent NCQDs: A Comprehensive Study on Synthesis, Characterization, Photophysical Properties, pH Sensing, Heavy Metal Detection, and Solvatochromic Behavior through Hydrothermal Method.

Solvatochromic studies in conjunction with NCQDs and analysis of material at different pH levels provide valuable insights about the process of metal ion sensing. Metal ion sensing holds significant importance in various fields like environment monitoring, biomedical diagnostics and various industrial purpose. The detection of metal ions by mixing the nitrogen-doped quantum dots (NCQDs) in the solvent at different pH levels for the analysis of the photoluminescence spectra is the unique property to achieve selective metal ion detection. In present study, the synthesis of NCQDs was performed by the use of flowers of Tecoma stans. The synthesis of NCQDs to best of our knowledge using flowers of Tecoma stans as natural carbon source via hydrothermal process has been done for the first time. The NCQDs exhibit absorption bands ranging from 190 to 450 nm, with the energy band gap varying from 3.55 to 5.42 eV when mixed with different solvent such as, 1-4 dioxane, acetone, acetonitrile, ethyl- acetate, ethanol, methanol and toluene. The fluorescence spectra exhibited highly intense range from approximately 390 to 680 nm across various solvents. XRD analysis further confirmed the crystalline nature of the particles with an average size of 6.96 nm. Different peak positions of the FTIR spectra support functional groups having C-H stretching, C = O (carbonyl) stretching, and C = C stretching vibrations. In the study a notable solvatochromic shift was observed, indicating sensitivity to change in solvent polarity. Additionally, the investigation of the ratio of ground to excited state dipole moment based on solvatochromic shift yielded a value of 3.30. This provide valuable information about optical and electronic properties of NCQDs. Overall, our study sheds light on the unique properties of NCQDs synthesized from Tecoma stans flowers and their potential applications in metal ion sensing, pH probing, and solvent polarity studies.

Photocatalytic and photoelectrochemical water oxidation over metal-doped monoclinic BiVO(4) photoanodes.

The visible-light-induced water oxidation ability of metal-ion-doped BiVO(4) was investigated and of 12 metal ion dopants tested, only W and Mo dramatically enhanced the water photo-oxidation activity of bare BiVO(4); Mo had the highest improvement by a factor of about six. Thus, BiVO(4) and W- or Mo-doped (2 atom %) BiVO(4) photoanodes about 1 µm thick were fabricated onto transparent conducting substrate by a metal-organic decomposition/spin-coating method. Under simulated one sun (air mass 1.5G, 100 mW cm(-2)) and at 1.23 V versus a reversible hydrogen electrode, the highest photocurrent density (J(PH)) of about 2.38 mA cm(-2) was achieved for Mo doping followed by W doping (J(PH) ≈ 1.98 mA cm(-2)), whereas undoped BiVO(4) gave a J(PH) value of about 0.42 mA cm(-2). The photoelectrochemical water oxidation activity of W- and Mo-doped BiVO(4) photoanodes corresponded to the incident photon to current conversion efficiency of about 35 and 40 % respectively. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and Mott-Schottky analysis indicated a positive flat band shift of about 30 mV, a carrier concentration 1.6-2 times higher, and a charge-transfer resistance reduced by 3-4-fold for W- or Mo-doped BiVO(4) relative to undoped BiVO(4). Electronic structure calculations revealed that both W and Mo were shallow donors and Mo doping generated superior conductivity to W doping. The photo-oxidation activity of water on BiVO(4) photoanodes (undoped