Synthesis and Application of CCQDs as a Novel Type of Environmentally Friendly Scale Inhibitor.

Carbon quantum dots (CQDs) are promising nanomaterials since they have smaller particle size, excellent biocompatibility, and low toxicity. However, no  one has found their high-scale inhibition performance so far. In this article, a new kind of green scale inhibitor, carboxyl carbon quantum dots (CCQDs), was synthesized through a simple method of thermal decomposition of citric acid. The as-prepared CCQDs have excellent scale inhibition performance for CaSO4 and BaSO4. With a static test of scale inhibition at a temperature of 0-80 °C, the antiscaling efficiency can reach 100% with low additions of CCQDs.