doi:10.1016/j.carbon.2019.09.073engMas, NuriaHueso, José L.Martínez, GemaMadrid, AinhoaMallada, ReyesOrtega-Liébana, M. CarmenBueno-Alejo, CarlosSantamaría, JesúsLaser-driven direct synthesis of carbon nanodots and application as sensitizers for visible-light photocatalysisART-2020-114719We present the first successful synthesis of monodisperse carbon nanodots (CNDs) with tunable photoluminescence (PL) carried out by laser pyrolysis of two common volatile organic precursors such as toluene and pyridine. Remarkably, the initial chemical composition of the precursor determines the formation of undoped or N-doped CNDs and their corresponding absorption response in the visible range (expanded for the latter). We demonstrate the control and versatility of this synthesis method to tune the final outcome and its potential to explore a great number of potential solvent candidates. Furthermore, we have successfully exploited these CNDs (both undoped and N-doped) as effective sensitizers of TiO2 nanoparticles in the visible-light driven photo-degradation of a cationic dye selected as model organic pollutant.2020http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/9545710.1016/j.carbon.2019.09.073http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/95457oai:zaguan.unizar.es:95457info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/FP7/294094/EU/Synthesis and characterization of NANOstructured materials with LumInescent properties for diaGnostic and tHerapeuTic applications/NANOLIGHTinfo:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/H2020/742684/EU/Catalytic Dual-Function Devices Against Cancer/CADENCEThis project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No H2020 742684-CADENCEinfo:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MINECO/CTQ2016-79419-RCarbon 156 (2020), 453-462by-nc-ndhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/es/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess