Abstract: Traditional fruit preservation methods cannot meet people’s sustainable demand for fresh fruits. How to further extend the storage period of fruits has become a major challenge. Carbon dots (CDs) are an emerging kind of carbon nanomaterials with excellent antioxidant and antibacterial properties, having good prospects for application in fruit preservation. This paper reviews the application of CDs in fruit preservation, covering the latest progress in the application of CDs in packaging materials and coating technology and its combined application with other preservation methods. The challenges of fruit preservation and the mechanism of CDs in fruit preservation are discussed, which will provide a theoretical reference for the development of new fruit preservation technologies.

Key words: carbon dots; fruit preservation; antioxidant; antibacterial; packaging materials