Carbon Dots: An Emerging Frontier for Green and Sustainable Civil Engineering Materials

Traditional civil engineering materials (CE materials) are usually involved with high‐energy consumption during manufacturing, significant maintenance costs, and substantial environmental impacts throughout their life cycles. The progress of nanotechnology is catalyzing a green and sustainable transformation within the field. Among various nanomaterials, carbon dots (CDs) have recently emerged as a promising eco‐friendly candidate due to their unique physical and chemical properties. They offer innovative strategies to enhance durability, introduce multifunctionality, and reduce the ecological footprints of infrastructure materials, including steel, concrete, and wood. This review summarizes recent advancements in CDs‐based CE materials with an emphasis on their green and sustainable attributes. We critically elucidate the mechanisms behind their improved performance in terms of durability and multifunctionality and discuss the current challenges and future directions for their successful integration into large‐scale sustainable construction practices.