Biomass solvothermal treatment methodologies to obtain carbon quantum dots: A systematic review

The application of carbon quantum dots (CQDs) in many systems is increasing due to their properties, such as nanoscale size, photoluminescence, and surface functional groups. This systematic review aims to analyze whether there is a relationship between the synthesis parameters and the final optical, morphological, and compositional characteristics of the material. Following PRISMA guidelines, the systematic review was performed in the Scopus database to identify the main articles synthesizing CQDs from vegetal biomass. Out of a total of 182 research articles found, 72 met the inclusion parameters. In all the cases, the authors characterized the CQDs using different analytical techniques. Among several synthesis parameters identified, a couple of them were analyzed against material properties such as mean particle size and quantum yield, observing trends in agreement with results previously reported by other authors. In addition, all studies confirmed that solvothermal method is a suitable way to obtain CQDs for different applications.