Abstract Graphene quantum dots (GQDs) have a wide range of applications in energy, optoelectronics, and bio-nanotechnology. However, their high cost is a barrier for commercial application. Here, we report a cost-effective ball-milling method for producing GQDs using a mixture of carbon nanocapsules (20 nm) as the carbon source and sodium carbonate as the intercalation agent. The results show that the proposed exfoliation method produces GQDs with diameters of 1.0–4.0 nm and a very small amount of grafted functional groups that exhibit blue light emission under ultraviolet irradiation. The quantum yield is about 5%. The proposed method has great potential for the production of GQDs using low-cost raw materials.

中文翻译：

---

使用碳纳米胶囊和碳酸钠通过球磨技术形成石墨烯量子点

摘要 石墨烯量子点（GQDs）在能源、光电子和生物纳米技术领域有着广泛的应用。然而，它们的高成本是商业应用的障碍。在这里，我们报告了一种使用碳纳米胶囊 (20 nm) 作为碳源和碳酸钠作为嵌入剂的混合物生产 GQD 的经济高效的球磨方法。结果表明，所提出的剥离方法产生直径为 1.0-4.0 nm 的 GQDs 和极少量的接枝官能团，在紫外线照射下显示蓝光发射。量子产率约为5%。所提出的方法在使用低成本原材料生产 GQD 方面具有巨大潜力。