Sustainable applications of carbon dots-based composites as photocatalyst for environmental pollutants remediation

Recently, environmental contamination, especially aquatic pollution, is a globally supreme issue. Billions tons of industrial and domestic effluents are annually released into water systems. Thus, removal/degradation of these contaminants is of prime concerns to prevent further aggravation to environment. Photodegradation is one of the most established procedures used for the removal of water contaminants. Over the last few years, nanoparticles and carbon dots (CDs) have demonstrated their efficient photophysical and chemical properties including light-absorption over a wide-spectrum range, upconversion luminescence, photosensitizers, great conductivity, and bivalent redox behavior. In addition, with the ease of production, low energy consumption, and the availability of abundance sunlight, CDs definitely offer an attractive feasible option for photocatalytic degradation of environmental contaminants. In this chapter, introduction to CDs as photocatalyst, their preparation strategies, and unique characteristics, the principles and mechanism behind the usage of CDs-based composites as photocatalyst and finally their applications for environmental remediation are being elaborated.