title: Water-soluble quantum dots for biomedical applications.
abstract: Semiconductor nanocrystals are 1-10nm inorganic particles with unique size-dependent optical and electrical properties due to quantum confinement (so they are also called quantum dots). Quantum dots are new types of fluorescent materials for biological labeling with high quantum efficiency, long-term photostability, narrow emission, and continuous absorption spectra. Here, we discuss the recent development in making water-soluble quantum dots and related cytotoxicity for biomedical applications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005, USA. wyu@rice.edu
authors.forename: William W
authors.initials: WW
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Emmanuel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Rebekah
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Drezek
authors.forename: Vicki L
authors.initials: VL
authors.lastname: Colvin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D036103:Nanotechnology; D045663:Quantum Dots; D012666:Semiconductors; D012995:Solubility; D014867:Water
chemical_list: D014867:Water