Carbondot-containing sustainable polymer composites: a review of systems from processing to applications

This article reviews recent progress and existing knowledge gaps in carbon dot (CD)-containing polymer composites, emphasizing the significance of CD surface functionality and its interactions with polymer groups for developing sustainable composites with enhanced performance. It provides a comprehensive overview of the fundamental science of CDs, their synthesis techniques, and their role in sustainability. The review discusses key aspects of processing, characterization, properties, and applications of these composites, guiding future advancements in sustainable polymeric materials. It also highlights the importance of CD dispersion, interfacial bonding with polymer matrices, and the effects of crosslinking on property improvements across fields such as packaging, coatings, environmental remediation, electronics, and biomedicine. The paper notes the limited commercialization of CDs and their composites, pointing out the challenge of developing scalable, cost-effective, solvent-free production methods. It advocates for integrating synthesis science with process engineering, life-cycle assessment, techno-economic analysis, and application validation. This research proposes that future research should focus on establishing reproducible relationships between synthesis, structure, properties, and processing that can be translated into environmentally sustainable manufacturing processes. Overall, this article offers new perspectives on designing CD-based sustainable polymer composites for a broad range of applications.