Organic pollutant sensing for human health based on carbon dots

Organic pollutants are harmful and toxic chemical substances that adversely threaten human health and the living environment all over the world. More and more studies have been investigating the relationship between low level of human exposure of organic compounds and various internal diseases. For the sake of assessing disease risk due to organic compounds contact in a particular location, it is imperative for relevant government departments to make a human health risk assessment in view of the organic pollutants’ bioavailability and their dosage-response correlations. It is inevitable to make use of an efficient method to detect organic pollutants, which is significant for public health and safety. Fluorescent assays based on carbon dots thus would provide a very plausible candidate method. After consulting a large number of literatures, we offer a comprehensive review of the sensing applications of carbon dots for organic pollutants.