Carbon quantum dots (CQDs) as a rising class of carbon family have gained widespread attention in view of their multiple properties such as great photoluminescence (PL) properties, facile synthesis route, needing economical and cheap raw material, high physiochemical stability, and simple functionalization. This makes CQDs highly versatile and with potential for different applications. To date, CQDs-enabled photocatalysts are regarded as one of the most efficient technologies to degrade pollutants in water; however, poor activity under visible light and the recombination of photogenerated electron and hole pairs hinder getting an ideal performance that may be applied on a large scale. Conventional techniques have been modified via a new advanced method. In this review, we highlighted the strategies to improve the activity of conventional semiconductor photocatalysis via coupling with CQDs, and strategies to improve the photocatalytic activity such as functionalization, doping, and Z-scheme heterojunctions were discussed in detail. This review also covered the CQDs heterojunction application in pollutant degradation and discussed several examples with high-performance photocatalytic activity.

碳量子点（CQDs）作为一类新兴的碳家族，以其优异的光致发光（PL）性能、合成路线简便、原料经济廉价、理化稳定性高、功能化简单等优点受到广泛关注。 . 这使得 CQD 具有高度的通用性，并具有适用于不同应用的潜力。迄今为止，基于 CQDs 的光催化剂被认为是降解水中污染物最有效的技术之一；然而，可见光下活性差以及光生电子和空穴对的复合阻碍了可以大规模应用的理想性能。传统技术已经通过一种新的先进方法进行了改进。在这次审查中，我们重点介绍了通过与 CQD 偶联来提高传统半导体光催化活性的策略，并详细讨论了提高光催化活性的策略，如功能化、掺杂和 Z 型异质结。这篇综述还涵盖了 CQDs 异质结在污染物降解中的应用，并讨论了几个具有高性能光催化活性的例子。