Recent Advances in Functionalized Carbon Dots toward the Design of Efficient Materials for Sensing and Catalysis Applications

Since the past decade, enormous research efforts have been devoted to the detection/degradation and quantification of environmental toxic pollutants and biologically important molecules due to their ubiquitous necessity in the fields of environmental protection and human health. These fields of sensor and catalysis are advanced to a new era after emerging of nanomaterials, especially, carbon nanomaterials including graphene, carbon nanotube, carbon dots (C-dots), etc. Among them, the C-dots in the carbon family are rapidly boosted in the aspect of synthesis and application due to their superior properties of chemical and photostability, highly fluorescent with tunable, non/low-toxicity, and biocompatibility. The C-dot-based functional materials have shown great potential in sensor and catalysis fields for the detection/degradation of environmental pollutants. The major advantage of C-dots is that they can be easily prepared from numerous biomass/waste materials which are inexpensive and environment-friendly and are suitable for a developing trend of sustainable materials. This review is devoted to the recent development (since 2017) in the synthesis of biomass- and chemical-derived C-dots as well as diverse functionalization of C-dots. Their capability as a sensor and catalyst and respective mechanism are summarized. The future perspectives of C-dots are also discussed.