Efficient bottom-up synthesis of graphene quantum dots at an atomically precise level

As a new class of carbonaceous form, graphene quantum dots (GQDs), which are zero-dimensional nanoparticles that arise from diverse carbonaceous forms, have garnered significant attention owing to their outstanding electronic, fluorescent, photoluminescent, chemiluminescent, and electrochemiluminescent properties. Surprisingly, nanomaterials based on GQDs have been widely used in the constantly updated materials development and utilization because of their unique performance in numerous fields. Although the well-established reviews based on GQDs cover a variety of synthetic improvements and utilization of the mature nanomaterials, incorporating the formation of GQDs via stepwise total synthesis tactics at the atomic-structure level has been briefly touched upon. Consequently, this review richly summarizes total synthetic strategies of GQDs by using a skeleton growth approach and proposes a confident guideline on how to use organic strategies to accurately synthesize GQD structures that completely conform to the expected assumptions.