review · C – Journal of Carbon Research
Carbon dots are carbon-based nanomaterials measuring less than ten nanometres that possess distinct optical, electronic, and chemical characteristics. They can be produced through top-down or bottom-up synthesis routes, which determine whether their resulting structure is amorphous, crystalline, or hybrid. Surface functionalisation with oxygen, amino, or polymer-based groups enables fine-tuning of their bandgap, charge carrier mobility, and photoluminescence. Standard analytical techniques, including high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and optical spectroscopy, confirm these structures. Alongside adjustable optical properties, carbon dots exhibit low toxicity, biocompatibility, environmental friendliness, high water solubility, and photostability. Consequently, they serve varied functions across bio-imaging, drug delivery, nanomedicine, photocatalysis, electrocatalysis, and solar cells, where their charge separation and carbon quantum yield prove particularly useful.
Many conventional nanomaterials pose environmental or toxicological hazards that restrict their biological and clean-energy uses. Carbon dots provide a safer alternative due to their low toxicity, biocompatibility, and water solubility. Their adjustable electronic and optical traits enable customisation for healthcare systems like imaging and drug delivery, as well as renewable energy technologies such as solar cells and catalysis.
The identified applications span medical diagnostics, drug delivery, and solar energy devices. Developers of solar cells and healthcare technologies are potential users of these nanomaterials. However, the abstract describes broad material properties, synthesis techniques, and exploratory applications rather than verified device performance or scaled manufacturing processes, indicating that these technologies are situated at an early research stage.
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Carbon dots (CDs) have emerged as a promising class of carbon-based nanomaterials due to their unique properties and versatile applications. Carbon dots (CDs), also known as carbon quantum dots (CQDs) or graphene quantum dots (GQDs), are nanoscale carbon-based materials with dimensions typically less than 10 nanometers. They exhibit intriguing optical, electronic, and chemical properties, making them attractive for a wide range of applications, including sensing, imaging, catalysis, and energy conversion, among many others. Both bottom-up and top-down synthesis approaches are utilized for the synthesis of carbon dots, with each method impacting their physicochemical characteristics. Carbon dots can exhibit diverse structures, including amorphous, crystalline, or hybrid structures, depending on the synthesis method and precursor materials used. CDs have diverse chemical structures with modified oxygen, polymer-based, or amino groups on their surface. These structures influence their optical and electronic properties, such as their photoluminescence, bandgap, and charge carrier mobility, making them tunable for specific applications. Various characterization methods such as HRTEM, XPS, and optical analysis (PL, UV) are used to determine the structure of CDs. CDs are cutting-edge fluorescent nanomaterials with remarkable qualities such as biocompatibility, low toxicity, environmental friendliness, high water solubility, and photostability. They are easily adjustable in terms of their optical properties, making them highly versatile in various fields. CDs find applications in bio-imaging, nanomedicine, drug delivery, solar cells, photocatalysis, electrocatalysis, and other related areas. Carbon dots hold great promise in the field of solar cell technology due to their unique properties, including high photoluminescence, high carbon quantum yield (CQY), and excellent charge separation.
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DOI: 10.3390/c10030060
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