A toolkit for bioimaging using near-infrared AgInS₂/ZnS quantum dots

Abstract

Cadmium free near-infrared AgInS2/ZnS quantum dots have been synthesized and used for imaging the microenvironment of cancer tumours.

Surface ligand chemistry on quaternary Ag(InxGa1−x)S2 semiconductor quantum dots for improving photoluminescence properties

“…Recently, I 2 -VI, III-V and I-III-VI 2 semiconductors have emerged as candidate materials for cadmiumfree QDs, [1][2][3] and they are usable in a variety of applications, including photovoltaics, [4][5][6] light-emitting devices, 1,7-10 and bioimaging. 3,[11][12][13] The emission color of these QDs can be engineered by tuning their bandgap energy (E g ) via their size; this is one of the unique characteristics of QDs, which is referred to as the quantum size effect. [14][15][16] Furthermore, the bandgaps of I-III-VI 2 semiconductors, a group that includes silver indium sulde (AgInS 2 ), copper indium sulde (CuInS 2 ), and their selenide derivatives, can also be controlled by adjusting their chemical composition and creating alloys from these materials.…”

Brightly luminescent colloidal Ag–In–S nanoparticles stabilized in aqueous solutions by branched polyethyleneimine

“…Typically, the NP-containing assemblies are produced using microball-like polymer macromolecules capable of binding to the NP surface (for example polyethylene glycol [3,5,6,[9][10][11], phospholipids [12,13], various block-copolymers, DNAs, etc. [3,5]).…”

“…In particular, big expectations are associated with ternary indium-based chalcopyrites [1,19,20], such as CuInS 2 and CuInS 2 /ZnS NPs [13][14][15][16]20], non-stoichiometric Cu-In-S [20,21] and Ag-In-S NPs [10], CuInS x Se 2-x NPs [22], AgInS 2 and AgInS 2 /ZnS NPs [9,11,23,24] that can also be produced by the well-known "hot injection" methods with the PL QY reaching 40-65% [1,14,21,22]. Such compounds combine a series of very attractive features, including relatively low toxicity and ability to preserve chalcopyrite structure in a broad range of NP sizes and non-stoichiometries [1,19,20,24,25].…”

Clinically compatible flexible wide-field multi-color fluorescence endoscopy with a porcine colon model

“…Therefore, it is vital to develop other types of QDs with reduced toxicity. Several QD toxicity studies have addressed and reduced in vivo toxicity by coating the cadmium-based core with another material [19,20]. However, a study with nonhuman primates revealed that most of the initial dose of cadmium still remained in the liver, spleen, and kidneys 90 days after injection [21].…”