Synthesis and characterization of carbon dots from coconut shell by optimizing the hydrothermal carbonization process

Coconut shell is one of the major agro-by products vis-a-vis agro-waste generated by coconut processing units. At present, shells are largely utilized as feed material for thermal power conversion various allied industrial sectors, which a highly energy inefficient and ecologically unfriendly process. The present study aimed to generate activated carbon dots/ nanomaterials with wide range potential applications through relatively less dependant hydrothermal carbonization Hydrothermal one-step, simple, low cost environmental friendly approach obtain dots. findings demonstrate that when subjected process at 250ᵒC 6 h produced uniform-sized, stable, negatively charged amorphous forms Characterization dots using High-Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HR-TEM), Scanning (SEM), Selected Area Diffraction (SAED), X- ray Diffractometer (XRD), UV- Visible Spectroscopy, Particle Size Analyzer (PSA), Brunauer–Emmett-Teller (BET) Analyzer, Elemental Dispersive X-ray (EDX) analyzer Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) had conclusively confirmed versatility generation were able achieve stable 2 nm-sized, spherical shaped numerous downstream applications. will help into useful bio-based fluorescent