Luminescent assays based on carbon dots for inorganic trace analysis

Abstract Carbon dots (CDs) are a recently discovered class of fluorescent nanomaterials with great potential to be applied in the analytical field. CDs have demonstrated to be a promising alternative to conventional organic fluorophores or quantum dots as optical nanoprobes for sensing different chemical species. In this overview, we review the progress in the design of novel nanoprobes based on fluorescent CDs for inorganic trace analysis. Representative examples of CD-based assays are described and the different sensing strategies are discussed.