Recent advances of carbon dots for the detection and removal of water contaminants

Abstract

Water pollution poses an increasing global threat to the environment and sustainable development of human society. The development of novel materials and technologies hold the promise for highly efficient detection and treatment of water contaminants from various industries that playing an essential role in both social and economic benefits. Recently, carbon dots (CDs) emerge as a novel type of low-dimensional carbon nanomaterials with the advantages of high photo/thermal stability, negligible photobleaching, excellent biocompatibility and low environmental toxicity, holding immense potential for toxic-element determination and pollution control in aquatic environments. In this review, we aim to summarize the recent progress in the design and synthesis of CDs-based nanomaterials and nanocomposites, and highlight their applications in the detection and treatment of water contaminants. Furthermore, the potential and problems of CDs-based nanocomposites are discussed with the aim to achieve fruitful results in the high-sensitive detection and high-efficiency removal of water contaminants from different sources.