The Future of Water Purification with Carbon and Graphene Quantum dots: a Comprehensive Review

Protecting and purifying water resources is one of the basic human needs that should be given more attention today than ever before. Protecting water resources can lead to the protection of human civilization, for which a variety of traditional and modern methods are used. Traditional water purification methods, such as chemical, biological, and mechanical, have been considered to eliminate water pollution. Still, these methods continue to cause problems due to limitations such as uncertainty in removing pharmaceutical pollutants, microplastics, and artificial dyes. Given the aforementioned limitations, emerging nanotechnology has entered the field of purifying water resources, and carbon nanotubes and carbon quantum dots have shown unparalleled progress in purifying water resources. These Nano-materials have unique properties such as high surface area, high adsorption capacity, and photochemical efficiency, which increase their efficiency in purifying water resources. The present study was conducted to conduct a comprehensive review of the latest technologies in water purification. Carbon nanotubes and carbon quantum dots have played an extremely effective role in the development of global water security and are one of the leading technologies in water purification. The results show that Nano-methods and the use of quantum dots can be particularly effective in removing heavy metals such as cadmium. Also, combined CQDs with ZnSn(OH)₆ have shown promising results in water purification under visible sunlight. QDs can be considered in the development of sweeteners and, compared to traditional water purification methods, have higher reliability and provide a faster purification process.