Recent advances in carbon quantum dots for antibiotics detection

Abstract A great deal of attention has been pressed to the hazards caused by the remains of antibiotics in the environment. Fluorescent sensing materials are favored for their rapid qualitative and quantitative detection of antibiotics, with carbon quantum dots (CQDs) being widely used as typical fluorescent materials. CQDs have demonstrated superior performances in conducting antibiotic diagnosis, which makes them a key tool for tackling antibiotic residues. This review article investigates recent advances in CQDs for the assessment and determination of antibiotics residues, involved antibiotic assay components are classified according to the assay mechanism as Static quenching effect (SQE), Dynamic quenching effect (DQE), Internal filtering effect (IFE), and Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) quenching mechanisms. We hope to provide valuable guidelines for the preparation of high-quality probes as well as limited detection of antibiotics, so as to promote the advancement of CQDs in the antimicrobial field.