Carbon Dots as an Emergent Class of Sustainable Antifungal Agents

Carbon-based functional nanomaterials with distinct photoluminescent properties have gained significant attention for their diverse applications in bioimaging, biomedicine, and antimicrobial treatments. Among these, carbon dots (CDs) have emerged as promising fluorescent nanomaterials due to their inherent photoluminescence properties, high stability, water solubility, ease of functionalization, biocompatibility, and low synthetic cost. Many strategies have been developed for their synthesis, utilizing a myriad of carbon precursors from small molecules to bulk or waste materials, which influence their structural and photoluminescent properties. Their fluorescence emission and functionality can be tuned through heteroatom doping, surface modifications, and reaction conditions, making them highly tunable nanomaterials suitable for applications in sensing, catalysis, anticancer and antimicrobial treatments, and biomedical imaging. This review explores various types of synthesized CDs, their structural features, and their applications in fungal bioimaging, antifungal therapies, and protective food packaging to demonstrate their potential in combating fungal resistance and contamination challenges.