Biomass-Based Carbon Dots: Current Development and Future Perspectives

Abstract

Carbon dots have been considered as a solution to the challenges that semiconductor quantum dots have encountered because they are more biocompatible and can be synthesized from abundant and nontoxic materials such as biomass. This review will highlight the advantages of these biomass-based carbon dots in terms of synthesis, properties, and applications in the biomedical field. Furthermore, future applications especially in the biomedical field of biomass-based carbon dots as well as the challenges of semiconductor quantum dots such as biocompatibility, photobleaching, environmental challenges, toxicity, and poor solubility will be discussed in detail. Biomass-derived quantum dots, a subsection of carbon dots that are the most desirable for future research, will be focused upon including from synthesis to applications. Finally, the future development of biomass derived quantum dots in the biomedical field will be discussed and evaluated to unlock the potential for their applications.

Nucleus-Targeting Phototherapy Nanodrugs for High-Effective Anti-Cancer Treatment

“…Carbon nanodots have been widely used in PDT, PTT, and fluorescence imaging in recent years due to their excellent optical properties. In addition, many carbon nanodots, which have small size and good hydrophilicity, are particularly suitable for passive targeting to the nucleus ( Wareing et al, 2021 ). Recently, Nasrin et al (2020) synthesized ultra-small conjugated carbon dots (CDcf) as two-photon active PSs for nucleus-targeting PDT.…”

Physicochemical Characterization and Antibacterial Properties of Carbon Dots from Two Mediterranean Olive Solid Waste Cultivars

“…Recently great attention has been also paid to new synthetic methods in terms of green chemistry that address the production of CDs from biomass wastes, cheap or abundant, heterogeneous and biodegradable materials obtained from the manufacturing processes of food, forestry, energy, and many other industrial processes [ 19 ]. CDs derived from biomass are greener and, in some cases, better than their chemical counterparts [ 20 ] and have been produced using top-down approaches from a lot of precursors, such as papaya [ 21 ], spent tea [ 22 ], watermelon peels [ 23 ], peanut shells [ 24 ], wool [ 25 ], strawberries [ 26 ], olive pits [ 27 ], and many others. Further, olive waste management is one of the main ecological issues in the Mediterranean basin, due to the concentration of more than 98% of global olive production and a market in huge expansion over the last two decades [ 28 ].…”

Transforming waste into value: pomelo-peel-based nitrogen-doped carbon dots for the highly selective detection of tetracycline

“…Therefore, it is urgent and necessary to develop novel fluorescent sensors with low toxicity for the identification and detection of TC, while retaining high sensitivity and selectivity. 6 …”