Interfacial charge transfer in NiO/graphene quantum dot heterostructures: Evidence-based assessment and electrochemical performance

Nickel oxide/graphene quantum dot (NiO/GQD) heterostructures have emerged as a promising class of electrochemically active materials owing to their unique interfacial electronic interactions. Although numerous studies have explored their applications in electrochemical sensing, electrochromic devices, photovoltaic systems, catalytic platforms, and multifunctional composites, a comprehensive and experimentally validated understanding of charge-transfer processes at NiO/GQD interfaces remains lacking. To the best of our knowledge, this review provides a dedicated evidence-based assessment of interfacial charge transfer in NiO/GQD heterostructures. Rather than proposing a universal theory applicable to all quantum-dot heterointerfaces, established concepts including energy-level alignment, interfacial electronic states, charge redistribution, built-in electric fields, and carrier-transport dynamics are used as analytical descriptors for evaluating the available NiO/GQD literature. Experimental and computational findings are critically distinguished according to whether they provide direct interface-sensitive evidence, indirect evidence with interpretive value, or performance-based inference. This approach enables the review to identify which interpretations of NiO/GQD interfacial behavior are reasonably supported, which remain provisional, and which require further verification through operando spectroscopy, surface-potential analysis, time-resolved measurements, and interface-specific calculations. The review therefore connects GQD electronic characteristics, NiO/GQD architecture, and electrochemical functionality without presenting currently unresolved charge-transfer pathways as experimentally established mechanisms.

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