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.
Keywords: barium sulfate; calcium sulfate; carbon dots; environment friendliness; nanomaterials; scale inhibitors.