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Harnessing Carbon Dots for Photocatalytic Energy Conversion: Challenges and Opportunities

Carbon dots (CDs) are emerging as low‑cost, tunable photocatalysts for converting solar energy into chemical fuels. Their performance hinges on synthesis‑driven structural features, which dictate photophysical and redox behavior. The review highlights how heterogeneity hampers reproducibility and stresses the need to map active sites and reaction mechanisms. By leveraging charge‑management strategies, CDs can serve as photosensitizers, co‑catalysts, or fully integrated catalysts for hydrogen evolution, hydrogen peroxide generation, and CO₂ reduction.