Efficient bottom-up synthesis of graphene quantum dots at an atomically precise level

As a new class of carbonaceous form, graphene quantum dots (GQDs), which are zero-dimensional nanoparticles that arise from diverse carbonaceous forms, have garnered significant attention owing to their outstanding electronic, fluorescent, photolumines-cent, chemiluminescent, and electrochemiluminescent properties. Surprisingly, nanomaterials based on GQDs have been widely used in the constantly updated materials development and utiliza-tion because of their unique performance in numerous fields. Although the well-established reviews based on GQDs cover a vari-ety of synthetic improvements and utilization of the mature nano-materials, incorporating the formation of GQDs via stepwise total synthesis tactics at the atomic-structure level has been briefly touched upon. Consequently, this review richly summarizes total synthetic strategies of GQDs by using a skeleton growth approach and proposes a confident guideline on how to use organic strategies to accurately synthesize GQD structures that completely conform to the expected assumptions.