Carbon Nanomaterials for Agri-Food and Environmental Applications || Graphene quantum dot-based nanostructures for water treatment

摘要： Water pollution by organic, inorganic, and microbial species presents a threat to the water supply as well as food safety and security. Graphene quantum dot-derived nanostructures have emerged as potential solutions toward water pollution mitigation. Such materials have been successfully prepared and evaluated for the catalytic removal of organic pollutants such as dyes and emerging pollutants, the adsorption of pollutants, filtration, and disinfection. Incorporation of GQDs in various nanocomposites resulted in the modification of the composite properties and improved the removal efficiencies of different pollutants. Careful control and optimization of the amounts of GQDs incorporated are necessary to ensure a positive influence in the pollutant-removal efficiencies of the different nanocomposites. Despite the promising developments around GQD-based nanostructures, more work still remains in order to ensure the design and utilization of such materials in large-scale applications. Nonetheless, GQD-derived nanostructures have potential as pollution remediation tools, owing to the nontoxicity, biodegradable, and abundant functional groups. However, there is a need to develop optimized synthesis conditions that will yield GQDs that are uniform in terms of size and surface functionalities and also develop synthesis routes that will ensure proper distribution of the GQDs within the nanocomposite matrix. This could contribute to consistency in terms of the reported performances of various GQD-derived nanostructures in water pollution abatement.