Abstract
AbstractCarbon dots are zero‐dimensional carbon nanomaterials with quantum confinement effects and edge effects, which have aroused great interests in many disciplines such as energy, chemistry, materials, and environmental applications. They can be prepared by chemical oxidation, electrochemical synthesis, hydrothermal preparation, arc discharge, microwave synthesis, template method, and many other methods. However, the raw materials' high cost, the complexity and environmental‐unfriendly fabrication process limit their large‐scale production and commercialization. Herein, we review the latest developments of coal‐based carbon dots about selecting coal‐derived energy resources (bituminous coal, anthracite, lignite, coal tar, coke, etc.) the developments of synthesis processes, surface modification, and doping of carbon dots. The coal‐based carbon dots exhibit the advantages of unique fluorescence, efficient catalysis, excellent water solubility, low toxicity, inexpensive, good biocompatibility, and other advantages, which hold the potentiality for a wide range of applications such as environmental pollutants sensing, catalyst preparation, chemical analysis, energy storage, and medical imaging technology. This review aims to provide a guidance of finding abundant and cost‐effective precursors, green, simple and sustainable production processes to prepare coal‐based carbon dots, and make further efforts to exploit the application of carbon dots in broader fields.
Highlights
Carbon is one of the most important elements in nature with various hybrid orbitals such as sp, sp2, and sp3,[1,2] which exists widely in the atmosphere, crust, and organisms in various forms
Carbon Dots (CDs) are a new kind of zero-dimensional carbon nanomaterials, which represented by Carbon Quantum Dots (CQDs), Graphene Quantum Dots (GQDs), Carbonized Polymer Dots (CPDs),[14,15,16,17,18,19,20] and composed of carbon core and large oxygen-containing functional groups/polymer chains.[21,22]
Due to the advantages of low toxicity, good biocompatibility, high chemical stability, and excellent photophysical properties,[23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33] CDs have been widely used in biological imaging,[31,34,35,36,37,38] ion detection,[32,39,40,41,42,43] photocatalysis,[27,44,45] and optoelectronic devices.[28,29,30,46,47,48,49]
Summary
In Part 2, the precursors (coal and its derivatives), synthesis methods, and physicochemical properties are discussed. Their applications in energy, environment, and biomedicine are discussed in Part 3. The challenges and prospects of the future development of coal-based CDs are discussed in Part 4
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