Carbon dots (CDs) show extensive potential in various fields such as sensing, bioimaging, catalysis, medicine, optoelectronics, and drug delivery due to their unique properties, that is, low cytotoxicity, cytocompatibility, water-solubility, multicolor wavelength tuned emission, photo-stability, easy modification, strong chemical inertness, etc. This review article especially focuses on the recent advancement (2015–2022) in the green synthesis of CDs, their application in metal ions sensing and microbial bioimaging, detection, and viability studies as well as their applications in pathogenic control and plant growth promotion.

The most currently developed uranium adsorbents usually suffer from relatively low adsorption capacity, poor selectivity, high cost, undegradability and secondary environmental pollution issues. Therefore, it is urgent to develop an...

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The construction of biomimetic nanozymes with efficient catalytic activities, low costs, and robust stability is fundamentally challenging but practically meaningful for biomedicine, immunoassays, catalysis, and environmental applications. Herein, we present a facile one-step strategy to fabricate a hemoglobin–gold nanoparticle (Hb–AuNP) catalytic system by using hemoglobin (Hb) as an efficient stabilizer and reducing agent. Remarkably, the Hb–AuNPs exhibit good dispersion and high catalytic stability under harsh conditions (temperature, pH, and storage time), which can ensure the long-term application properties of this catalytic system. Combining AuNPs with Hb for reactive oxygen species regulation resulted in 12-fold enhancements in catalytic activity compared with natural horseradish peroxidase (HRP). Further, the Hb–AuNPs exhibit a high glucose, H2O2, and ascorbic acid sensing performance with an unprecedented combination of a low detection limit and a rapid speed. This colorimetric method based on Hb–AuNPs was also effectively used to measure the levels of glucose and ascorbic acid in real samples.The current work comes up with new ideas for making gold-based biomimetic nanozymes that are both highly effective and stable. It also has interesting potential uses in biosensors and biomimetic catalysis.