**9. Conclusion**

In general, CDs are less toxic and environment-friendly materials due to their biodegradable nature. CDs and their derivatives have unique properties such as high porosities, small diameters and high surface area-to-volume ratio rendering them practically usable in a wide range of applications including water treatment. Indeed, electrospinning these glycosidic sugars into nanofibrous mats improves their surface area-to-volume ratio further and enhances their adsorption and inclusion complexing properties. Undesirable species of specific sizes can be encapsulated *via* inclusion complexation and filtered by CD-based nanofibers and membranes. Electrospun CD nanofiber mats and membranes find further applications in various areas such as drug delivery, filtration, catalysis, water treatment, reinforcement, electronics, pharmaceuticals and optical devices. Considering that they are natural, nontoxic, cost-effective and readily available, their properties can be explored for further applications. Scaling-up and subsequent commercialization of these superior nanofibers and membranes can be explored once their cost has been determined.
