Abstract:Carbon nanomaterials are the excellent candidates for a variety of app lications, and thus, their research is a hotspot in recent years. The big amount production and utilization of carbon nanomaterials will inevitably lead to the release of these materials into environment, and may incur potential environment al and ecological risks. On the one hand, carbon nanomaterials themselves are to xic to living organisms; on the other hand, they have stronger adsorbing capabil ity on the pollutants in environment, and thus, affect the transport and fate of the pollutants. At present, the researches on the ecological risk of carbon nan omaterials are largely focused on their potential biotoxicity, while a few are on their environmental behavior and their effects on the transport and fate of p ollutants in the environment. This paper reviewed the researches on the sources, exposure pathways, and environmental behavior of carbon nanomaterials, and thei r potential effects on the transport and fate of pollutants in the environment. The significances of the research on the assessment of environmental and ecologi cal risks of nanomaterials were discussed.