Abstract Amphiphilic carbon-based nanoparticles have recently attracted much attention in stabilizing Pickering emulsions owing to their low cytotoxicity, cost-effectiveness and biocompatibility. In this work, a facile and aqueous synthesis method… Click to show full abstract
Abstract Amphiphilic carbon-based nanoparticles have recently attracted much attention in stabilizing Pickering emulsions owing to their low cytotoxicity, cost-effectiveness and biocompatibility. In this work, a facile and aqueous synthesis method was developed for the preparation of amphiphilic graphene quantum dots by modifying hydrophilic GQDs (GQDs-COOH) with hydrophobic hexylamine. Distinctive from pristine GQDs-COOH, amphiphilic GQDs show interesting surface-active properties and can stabilize water-in-cyclohexane Pickering emulsions. As efficient particle surfactants, amphiphilic GQDs could be applied in a mini-emulsion polymerization system to synthesize submicron-sized polystyrene particles. Particularly, the as-prepared PS particles were highly luminescent as produced by the highly fluorescent amphiphilic GQDs.
               
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