Carbon dots as potential greener and sustainable fluorescent nanomaterials in service of pollutants sensing

Owing to the unique optical properties, chemical inertness, facile synthesis, tunable fluorescence, low toxicity, good water solubility, inexpensive and abundance of precursors, carbon dots (C-dots) have dragged an increasing amount of interest in a number of applications including, chemical and biochemical sensing, bioimaging and various other environmental applications. This review article focuses on the development of C-dots using the concept of greener and sustainable approaches. First of all, the discussion on the different kinds of greener techniques for the fabrication of C-dots and their composites according to the concept of greener chemistry has been carried out. Secondly, the sensing applications of C-dots and their composites for the identification of different environmental pollutants using different types of sensing systems has been presented. Finally, future research directions and current challenges of the field have also been discussed. We believe that this work will offer some useful suggestions for C-dots applications in the sensing of a number of hazardous pollutants of environmental concern.