Recent progress in carbon-based nanomaterials: critical review Carbon-based nanomaterials (CBNs) have attracted significant attention due to their unique physical and chemical properties. CBNs such as fullerenes, carbon nanotubes, carbon nanofibers, carbon quantum dots, graphene, and other derivatives have been extensively studied in environmental remediation, analytical chemistry and sensing, antimicrobial activities, microbial fuel cells, and renewable energy and energy storage. This study details recent research on the synthesis, properties, and applications of CBNs, including their toxicity and health implications. The various uses of CBNs have shown promising results for many applications. However, there are still concerns about some limitations, including the lack of knowledge on the possible toxicity and health effects of CBNs, difficulties with scalability and cost-effectiveness, and biocompatibility in medical applications. Therefore, further research is needed to involve multidisciplinary integration approaches, including Engineering, Medicine, Chemistry, Biology, and Material Science, to fully realize the potential of CBNs and encourage scientists to develop innovative CBNs for various sectors. CBNs are substances made of carbon atoms structured in various ways, such as fullerenes, carbon nanotubes, carbon nanofibers, carbon quantum dots, graphene, and other variants. Carbon can form bonds with itself or other materials and can hybridize in sp, sp², and sp³ forms. Due to its ability to adopt extended 2-D sheet forms, carbon is unique compared to many other elements. These sheets are stable in their isolated state (graphene) and when formed into cylindrical geometries (nanotubes) or pseudo-spherical geometries (fullerenes). CBNs have many structures and have received a lot of interest in many fields. CBNs have various applications, including environmental remediation, analytical chemistry and sensing, antimicrobial activities, microbial fuel cells, renewable energy, and energy storage. Due to their outstanding characteristics, CBNs have received a lot of interest in pollution remediation. Carbon materials are frequently used to create anodes in microbial fuel cells due to their excellent electron transfer kinetics, easy availability, high chemical and thermal stability, large surface area, low porosity, high biocompatibility, and high conductivity. CBNs have distinctive physical, mechanical, and chemical properties that make them suitable for analytical chemistry and sensing applications. They have received considerable attention in the field of renewable energy, energy storage, and conversion due to their many advantages, such as high surface area, excellent electrical conductivity, good mechanical strength, and chemical stability. This review aims to close the gap in the wide range of applications for CBNs and covers the current developments in the application of CBNs as well as their limitations and perspectives. The review is structured as follows: the general overview of the study, classification, synthesis, and properties of CBNs in Sections “Introduction” and “Carbon-basedRecent progress in carbon-based nanomaterials: critical review Carbon-based nanomaterials (CBNs) have attracted significant attention due to their unique physical and chemical properties. CBNs such as fullerenes, carbon nanotubes, carbon nanofibers, carbon quantum dots, graphene, and other derivatives have been extensively studied in environmental remediation, analytical chemistry and sensing, antimicrobial activities, microbial fuel cells, and renewable energy and energy storage. This study details recent research on the synthesis, properties, and applications of CBNs, including their toxicity and health implications. The various uses of CBNs have shown promising results for many applications. However, there are still concerns about some limitations, including the lack of knowledge on the possible toxicity and health effects of CBNs, difficulties with scalability and cost-effectiveness, and biocompatibility in medical applications. Therefore, further research is needed to involve multidisciplinary integration approaches, including Engineering, Medicine, Chemistry, Biology, and Material Science, to fully realize the potential of CBNs and encourage scientists to develop innovative CBNs for various sectors. CBNs are substances made of carbon atoms structured in various ways, such as fullerenes, carbon nanotubes, carbon nanofibers, carbon quantum dots, graphene, and other variants. Carbon can form bonds with itself or other materials and can hybridize in sp, sp², and sp³ forms. Due to its ability to adopt extended 2-D sheet forms, carbon is unique compared to many other elements. These sheets are stable in their isolated state (graphene) and when formed into cylindrical geometries (nanotubes) or pseudo-spherical geometries (fullerenes). CBNs have many structures and have received a lot of interest in many fields. CBNs have various applications, including environmental remediation, analytical chemistry and sensing, antimicrobial activities, microbial fuel cells, renewable energy, and energy storage. Due to their outstanding characteristics, CBNs have received a lot of interest in pollution remediation. Carbon materials are frequently used to create anodes in microbial fuel cells due to their excellent electron transfer kinetics, easy availability, high chemical and thermal stability, large surface area, low porosity, high biocompatibility, and high conductivity. CBNs have distinctive physical, mechanical, and chemical properties that make them suitable for analytical chemistry and sensing applications. They have received considerable attention in the field of renewable energy, energy storage, and conversion due to their many advantages, such as high surface area, excellent electrical conductivity, good mechanical strength, and chemical stability. This review aims to close the gap in the wide range of applications for CBNs and covers the current developments in the application of CBNs as well as their limitations and perspectives. The review is structured as follows: the general overview of the study, classification, synthesis, and properties of CBNs in Sections “Introduction” and “Carbon-based