This review covers recent progress in atomic doping and surface functionalization of carbon nanodots to improve their functionality for a variety of applications ranging from biomedicine to optoelectronics to energy.

Highly luminescent graphitic carbon quantum dots (GQDs) are synthesized employing reverse micelles as nanoreactors. This method offers size tunability and narrow size distribution without any unpractical size separation process. Also, high quantum yields of maximum 35% at the 360 nm excitation wavelength are achieved.