Carbon dots (CDs) have received much attention due to their superior properties including water solubility, low toxicity, biocompatibility, small size, fluorescence, and ease of modification. The use of a more environmentally friendly method to prepare high‐quality CDs is still an urgent question waiting for solve. The use of renewable, inexpensive, and green biomass resources not only meets the urgent need for large‐scale synthesis biomass CDs (BCDs), but also promotes the development of sustainable applications. In this article, we summarize the representative methods for synthesizing BCDs in green and simple ways using biomass as a carbon source, including hydrothermal carbonization, and microwave, pyrolysis. The prepared BCDs have a uniform particle size distribution and a relatively high throughput, which provide a method to scale up industrial production. Moreover, the integration of specific optical properties, that is, tunable photoluminescence and up‐photoluminescence, has led to remarkable use in bioimaging, sensing, and drug delivery. But the current review is not particularly comprehensive for BCDs. Therefore, we now provide a review focusing on the synthesis, properties, and recent advances in BCDs in biosensing, bioimaging, optoelectronics, and catalytic applications.

Tin oxide (SnO2) hollow nanospheres have been successfully synthesized from mixed ethanol and water systems containing the surfactants sodium dodecyl benzenesulfonate (SDBS) and terephthalic acid. Systematic studies reveal that terephthalic acid plays pivotal roles in the formation of hollow nanospheres. In the present work, the as‐synthesized SnO2 hollow nanospheres exhibit excellent room‐temperature ethanol sensitivity and potential catalytic ability towards the electrooxidation of ethanol, and thus are expected to be economical alternative catalysts and useful in industrial applications such as room‐temperature gas sensors. (© Wiley‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2006)

Hierarchical ZnS structures with different sizes have been successfully prepared by a facile one-step method. By modulating the experimental parameters, we were able to fabricate hierarchical zinc sulfide (wurtzite) assembled structures with average sizes of 30, 200, and 400 nm on a large scale. Systematic experiments were carried out to investigate the factors such as the amounts of the reagents (thiourea and sodium hydroxide), which have great influence on the morphologies and sizes of the products. In addition, studies of the photocatalytic properties by exposure to UV light irradiation demonstrated that the as-obtained ZnS structures show potential photocatalytic activity. Therefore, the preparation and properties studies of different ZnS structures will offer great opportunities to explore the dependence of a material's properties on the morphology and size and find many interesting applications in the optoelectronic devices.

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A one-step thermal decomposition strategy, in which a novel reductant participated, was developed to prepare superparamagnetic nearly cubic monodisperse Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles loaded on multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs/Fe 3 O 4 ). Subsequently, the as-prepared MWCNTs/Fe 3 O 4 nanocomposites were modified with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTS) (MWCNTs/Fe 3 O 4 -NH 2 ). The materials were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM) and the BET surface area method. The results indicated that superparamagnetic Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles were successfully loaded onto the surface of the MWCNTs, and APTS was also modified on the MWCNTs/Fe 3 O 4 magnetic nanocomposites. The two as-prepared magnetic nanocomposites were used as adsorbents to remove tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) and Pb(II) from wastewater. The adsorption kinetics and adsorption isotherms of TBBPA and Pb(II) on the two asprepared adsorbents were studied at pH 7.0 and 5.3, respectively. It was revealed that MWCNTs/ Fe 3 O 4 -NH 2 performed better than the MWCNTs/Fe 3 O 4 nanocomposites for the adsorption properties of TBBPA and Pb(II). After adsorption, both adsorbents could be conveniently separated from the media by an external magnetic field within several seconds, and regenerated in 0.1 M NaOH solution.

Poly(ethlyene terephthalate) waste from a local market was depolymerized by ethylene glycol (EG)

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Poly(cyclotriphosphazene-co-4,4′-sulfonyldiphenol) (PZS) submicro-spheres were easily prepared, which exhibited a selective adsorption and separation of dyes that can be classified as Lewis acids and/or Brønsted acids by acid–base interactions.