Hydrothermal synthesis of carbon quantum dots with size tunability heterogeneous nucleation.

Hydrothermal synthesis has been extensively utilized for fabricating carbon quantum dots (CQDs). Generally, the average sizes of the CQDs are controlled by using specific precursor concentrations, processing temperatures, and reaction times. In our study, the average size of CQDs can simply be controlled by using a different filling volume of sucrose solution in the hydrothermal reactor while keeping the other experimental parameters constant.