Graphene quantum dots hybrids in energy storage/conversion Systems—State-of-the-art and advances

Graphene quantum dots are tiny (sizes of few nm) zero dimensional crystalline nanoentities, inheriting noteworthy optical/electronic, fluorescence, magnetic, quantum confinements, and surface/edge properties for scorching nanotechnology areas ranging from energy/electronics—to—biomedical sectors. This up-to-the-minute manuscript highlights technical significance of graphene quantum dots hybrids for today’s most demanding energy storage (supercapacitors, lithium ion/sulfur batteries) and energy conversion (polymer/bulk heterojunction/perovskite solar cells) systems and devices. For this purpose, numerous multifunctional hybrids of graphene quantum dots with inorganic and polymeric materials/nanomaterials, have been reported in the literature up till now. High performance of graphene quantum dots hybrids seems related to precisely designed nanostructures by opting facile and efficient synthesis techniques, including in situ/electrochemical, solution, deposition, coating, or other competent strategies. Herein, depending upon graphene quantum dots modification, dispersion, specific hybrid design combination, matrix-quantum dots interactions, and structure-property relationships, the resulting energy systems revealed notable electrical conductivity, specific capacity/capacitance, capacity/capacitance retention, charge-discharge, cyclic durability, and power output features. Nevertheless, suitability of graphene quantum dots hybrids for industrial scale future deployments in modern energy storage and conversion systems depends upon challenges solving strategies to attain predefined designs and well-defined processing techniques/conditions.