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A polymer encapsulation approach to prepare zwitterion-like, biocompatible quantum dots with wide pH and ionic
Liming Huang1, Mingxia Liao2, Siqi Chen2
1Department of Electrical and Biomedical Engineering, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA. Biomedical Engineering Program, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA. Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA.
Abstract:
A surface modification approach adopting polymer encapsulation was developed to prepare zwitterion-like quantum dots (ZWL-QDs). The fundamental physical, chemical, and biological properties of the ZWL-QDs were characterized. It is found that the ZWL-QDs almost preserve the quantum yield (QY) of native hydrophobic QDs in organic solvents, and also are compact in size (7 ~ 10 nm hydrodynamic diameter) and stable over wide pHs or in high salinity solutions. Further cellular study shows that the ZWL-QDs with a concentration less than 100 nM have a minimal cytotoxicity and thus are biocompatible. Characterizing and understanding these essential properties of the ZWL-QDs are an important step before employing them for various applications.
