Unleashing the Multifunctionality of Carbon Dots for Solar-Driven Interfacial Evaporation: Recent Advances and Diverse Applications

Abstract

In recent years, solar-driven evaporators have gained attention as a sustainable approach to water treatment. Utilizing photothermal materials for solar evaporation represents a sustainable and practical strategy to mitigate water scarcity by leveraging the abundance of solar energy. The efficient solar-to-thermal is crucial and has been widely investigated, with the development of solar absorber materials emerging as a compelling focus due to their excellent photothermal performance. The carbon dots (CDs) have recently gathered considerable attention for their potential application in this domain. CDs exhibit several desirable properties, including broadband light absorption, high photothermal conversion efficiency, tunable surface functionalities, facile integration into substrates, ease of synthesis, and accessibility to abundant raw materials, making them a suitable candidate for this application. In this review, a brief introduction to the solar evaporator, including the mechanism and key components in solar-driven interfacial evaporation (SDIE) devices, is given, followed by a strategy of CDs synthesis, sources of CDs precursors, and their incorporation into various substrates. Moreover, the potential application of CD-based evaporators in evaporation, desalination, water purification, electricity generation, and the removal of microbes is highlighted. This study concludes by exploring the current limitations and prospective advancements in CD-assisted solar evaporation research. © 2025 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.