Surface functional carbon dots：chemical engineering applications beyond their optical property

As an emerging carbon material, carbon dots (CDs) have received extensive attention in recent years. Since CDs have excellent optical properties, most reports on carbon dots focus on the research of their optical applications. However, the diverse surface functional groups of CDs make it also have broad application prospects in chemical engineering. The review article will focus on the research progress on the chemical applications of CDs in the following three aspects: CDs used as structural regulators to regulate the morphology and size of materials; CDs used as chemical additives, such as consolidant, antirust, antifreeze, lubricant and scale inhibitor; CDs used as reinforcing reagent to improve water dispersibility and enhance mechanical properties of materials. Finally, we will look forward to the existing problems in this field and the future development direction.