Harnessing versatile dynamic carbon precursors for multi-color emissive carbon dots

Abstract

Carbon dots (CDs), as a relatively new type of fluorescent nanomaterials, are superior to carbon allotropes due to their excellent biocompatibility, controllable photoluminescence, high quantum yield (QY), and unique electronic and physicochemical properties, leading to outstanding applications in multiple different fields. However, the versatile properties of CDs are notably dependent on their precursors, which directly or indirectly dominate their corresponding multi-emissive photoluminescence properties. Consequently, in this review, we aim to review the recent progress on the synthesis of CDs using numerous precursors including aromatic organic small molecules, citric acid, natural biomass, synthetic and natural polymers, petroleum products, and various unique morphologies of carbon in terms of multi-color emission, QY, synthetic method, and formation mechanism, with emphasis on how these different precursors produce the corresponding multi-color CDs over the last ten years. This review also introduces the creative applications of CDs considering the fields of biosensing, biomedicine, WLEDs and anti-counterfeiting owing to their corresponding excellent photoluminescence properties and the future perspective and directions of CDs in these emerging fields. It is hoped that this review will inspire and guide future investigations on the design of tailored CDs by selecting appropriate precursors or their combination, serving as a source to develop versatile CDs.