Affiliation:
1. Key Laboratory for Biomedical Effects of Nanomaterials and Nanosafety, Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
Abstract
Quantum dots (QDs) are a group of semiconducting nanomaterials with unique optical and electronic properties. They have distinct advantages over traditional fluorescent organic dyes in chemical and biological studies in terms of tunable emission spectra, signal brightness, photostability, and so forth. Currently, the major type of QDs is the heavy metal-containing II-IV, IV-VI, or III-V QDs. Silicon QDs and conjugated polymer dots have also been developed in order to lower the potential toxicity of the fluorescent probes for biological applications. Aqueous solubility is the common problem for all types of QDs when they are employed in the biological researches, such asin vitroandin vivoimaging. To circumvent this problem, ligand exchange and polymer coating are proven to be effective, besides synthesizing QDs in aqueous solutions directly. However, toxicity is another big concern especially forin vivostudies. Ligand protection and core/shell structure can partly solve this problem. With the rapid development of QDs research, new elements and new morphologies have been introduced to this area to fabricate more safe and efficient QDs for biological applications.
Funder
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Subject
General Materials Science
Cited by
125 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献