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- Title
Application of Quantum Dots in Biological Imaging.
- Authors
Shan Jin; Yanxi Hu; Zhanjun Gu; Lei Liu; Hai-Chen Wu
- 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, themajor type of QDs is the heavymetal-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 as in vitro and in vivo imaging. 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 for in vivo studies. 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.
- Subjects
QUANTUM dots; SEMICONDUCTORS; NANOSTRUCTURED materials; IMAGING systems in biology; ORGANIC dyes
- Publication
Journal of Nanomaterials, 2011, p1
- ISSN
1687-4110
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1155/2011/834139