Defects and Structural Limitation-Induced Carbon Dots–Silica Hybrid Materials with Ultralong Room Temperature Phosphorescence

Carbon dots-based room temperature phosphorescent (RTP) materials have attracted widespread attention owing to their excellent optical properties. However, there still is a challenge to fabricate carbon dots-based materials simultaneously showing long RTP lifetime and high phosphorescent quantum yield. Herein, we have designed a kind of carbon dots–silica hybrid material that can produce RTP emission with ultralong lifetime and also high phosphorescent quantum yield (1.3 s and 11.22%). Both chemical and optical analytical characterizations indicate the source of the outstanding RTP performance as the synergistic strategy of abundant electron traps, highly rigid network, and stable covalent bond. The findings provide a new design idea to achieve novel carbon dots-based RTP materials, showing broad application prospects in optical anticounterfeiting, optoelectronics, and others.