Structural design of carbon dots/porous materials composites and their applications.

[Display omitted] • This review focuses on recent development of carbon dots/porous materials composites. • Preparation, structures, and properties of carbon dots/porous materials composites are discussed. • Challenges and future development of carbon dots/porous materials composites are described. Carbon dots (CDs), an emerging fluorescent carbon nanomaterial, have attracted great attention in recent year due to their features such as unique optical property, good biocompatibility and low cost and easy synthesis. When CDs are integrated with porous materials, it not only compensates for the shortcomings of monocomponent CDs in applications, but also produces new functionalities through synergistic interactions to extend new applications. At present, CDs have been assembled with various porous materials such as zeolites, carbonaceous porous materials, porous graphitic carbon nitride (g-C 3 N 4), mesoporous SiO 2 , porous metallic compounds and metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), which exhibit excellent performance and a wide range of applications. Therefore, recent research advances in CDs/porous materials composites should be presented to facilitate further development of the field. In this article, the preparation methods, porous structures, and properties of CDs/porous materials composites are classified and presented. Then, the applications of CDs/porous materials composites in optics, biomedicine, sensing, electrochemistry, and photocatalysis are also discussed. Finally, current challenges and future directions are briefly discussed to facilitate the next development of CDs/porous materials composites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]