Exploring the multifunctionality of carbon dots: Advances in synthesis, properties, and applications

Owing to their small size, and unique physical and chemical properties, zero-dimensional carbon nanomaterials, carbon dots (CDs) have been increasingly critically analyzed for their potential applications in the fields of biology, chemistry, food science, and energy. This study systematically explores the multifunctional capabilities of CDs, emphasizing recent advancements in their synthesis techniques, precise characterization methods, and their tailored applications across interdisciplinary domains. The applications of CDs, which are generally smaller than 10 nm, in myriad fields are ascribed to their intrinsic merits of good biocompatibility, little cytotoxicity, good stability, and large specific surface area. The development of CDs along with their accurate characterization, and their successful implementation into faster, less expensive, and more reliable systems in a variety of scientific fields are testimony to how science has advanced and merged to create interdisciplinary fields. Despite extensive research, there is still the need to overcome the problem of large-scale production and improve quantum yield as well as functionality for specific applications, which this study seeks to analyze. Thus, a new era in nanotechnology has begun with the advancement in the exploration of CDs for applications in new and emerging scientific fields. CDs exhibit a huge number of distinctive physiochemical, photophysical, and photochemical properties which makes them a suitable platform for applications related to imaging, environmental remediation, catalysis, biology, and energy. The present research, therefore, focuses on the function and importance of CDs, as well as their synthesis, properties, and new developments in several fields of application.