Carbon dots (CDs) as a new class of zero-dimensional carbon-based nanomaterials that have gained growing interest and attention in many research areas. In addition to their comparable optical properties, CDs have the desired advantages of economy, low toxicity, excellent biocompatibility, simple synthetic routes and abundant carbon source. Since their discovery, CDs have been widely used in sensors, nanomedicine, bioimaging, and photo/electrocatalysis fields. To better understand the significant role of CDs in separation science, it becomes necessary to summarize the applications of CDs in sample preparation and chromatographic separation systematically. In this review, we aim to demonstrate the up-to-date advances of CDs with an emphasis on their properties, classification, synthetic methods and applications in sample preparation and chromatographic separation along with some perspectives on the current challenges and opportunities in this exciting and promising field. This review may open up some insights and inspiration for future research work.

碳点（CDs）作为一类新型的零维碳基纳米材料，在许多研究领域都引起了越来越多的关注和关注。除了具有可比的光学性能外，CD还具有经济，毒性低，生物相容性优异，合成路线简单和碳源丰富的理想优势。自发现以来，CD已广泛用于传感器，纳米医学，生物成像和光/电催化领域。为了更好地理解CD在分离科学中的重要作用，有必要总结CD在样品制备和色谱分离中的应用。在这篇评论中，我们旨在展示CD的最新进展，重点是CD的特性，分类，合成方法及其在样品制备和色谱分离中的应用，以及对这一令人振奋和充满希望的领域中当前挑战和机遇的一些看法。这篇评论可能会为将来的研究工作提供一些见识和启发。