The use of crude carbon dots as green, low-cost and multifunctional additives to improve the curing, mechanical, antioxidative and fluorescence properties of epoxy natural rubber/silica composites

Rubbers are acknowledged as strategically important and irreplaceable materials in daily life, and rubber additives are indispensable components for the practical application of the rubber vulcanizate. Developing novel rubber additives is highly desirable, and pursuing multifunctional rubber additives has been one of the major tasks in the field of rubber. Herein, the crude carbon dots (CCDs) without any purification were used as rubber additives for epoxy natural rubber/silica system by conventional milling process. Our results revealed that the CCDs have outstanding advantages, they could not only endow the rubber with charming fluorescence and excellent anti-aging capability, but also improve the curing rate and mechanical performance of rubber composite. Moreover, with the incorporation of CCDs, the rolling resistance of the rubber composite could be remarkably reduced, which is promising for the application of green tyres. Overall, this work convincingly provides novel inspiration to develop novel low-cost yet multifunctional additives for rubber.