Kashish Garg, Hardeep Kaur, Monika Bhattu, Rita Choudhary, Yogesh K. Ahlawat, Shivankar Agarwal
Pesticide pollution in soil and water poses a significant threat to the environment and mankind, requiring immediate attention for sustainable and efficient remediation approaches. This review investigates the role of multifunctional sustainable carbon dots (CDs) for the sensing and removal of pesticides. These CDs employ the plant’s biomass and organic waste as their primary precursor, which turns the low-value waste into a value-added product that aligns with the principles of the circular economy. This review outlines the synthesis strategies, optical and catalytic attributes, along with the mechanistic insights of pesticide detection and removal in abiotic and biotic processes. Recent studies on waste-derived CDs have revealed the higher sensitivity towards sensing of pesticides, along with the enhanced photocatalytic activity. Furthermore, the techno-economic parameters, life-cycle assessment and regulatory issues related to the scale-up, have been discussed. Also, the key setbacks, including scalable synthesis, variable feedstock, and environmental protection, are highlighted along with the prospects for the standardization of evaluation protocols, hybrid materials, and integrated remediation systems. In a nutshell, the waste-derived CDs have emerged as a sustainable and promising platform for engineering next-generation innovations for monitoring pesticides and environmental remediation.