Deep insights to explain the mechanism of carbon dot formation at various reaction times using the hydrothermal technique: FT-IR, 13C-NMR, 1H-NMR, and UV-visible spectroscopic approaches

The mechanism for synthesizing CDs remains unclear. This graphical abstract proposes a one-step hydrothermal method for CD formation from 4-aminoantipyrine, with varying reaction times. It illustrates the key steps involved in the synthesis process.