Separation and purification of fluorescent carbon dots – an unmet challenge

Literature reports demonstrate versatile optical applications of fluorescent carbon dots (CDs) in biological imaging, full-color solid-state lighting, optoelectronics, sensing, anticounterfeiting and so on. The fluorescence associated with CDs may originate significantly from byproducts generated during their synthesis, which need to be eliminated to achieve error-free results. The significance of purification, specifically for luminescence-based characterizations, is highly critical and imperative. Thus, there is a pressing demand to implement consistent and adequate purification strategies to reduce sample complexity and thereby realize reliable results that can provide a tactical steppingstone towards the advancement of CDs as next-generation optical materials. The article focuses on the mechanism of origin of fluorescence from CDs and further demonstrates the different purification approaches including dialysis, centrifugation, filtration, solvent extraction, chromatography, and electrophoresis that have been adopted by various researchers. Furthermore, the fundamental separation mechanism, as well as the advantages and limitations of each of these purification techniques are discussed. The article finally provides the critical challenges of these purification techniques that need to be overcome to obtain homogeneous CD fractions that demonstrate coherent and reliable optical features for suitable applications.