Semiconductor nanocrystals have been extensively applied in bioimaging due to their unique and tunable electronic and optical properties. While the vast majority of these applications have used zero-dimensional quantum dots (QDs), newer one-dimensional nanorods (NRs) and two-dimensional nanoplatelets (NPLs) can provide a wide range of useful optical properties, including narrow-band and polarized emission. However, transferring these anisotropic from organic solvents after synthesis to aqueous solution poses major challenges due to their high surface area to volume ratios. In this study, we develop a general strategy to prepare water-dispersible QDs, NRs, and NPLs using multidentate polymers. The resulting aqueous nanocrystals are homogeneous in hydrodynamic dimensions based on gel permeation chromatography (GPC) and can be efficiently conjugated to a wide range of biomolecules using processes already optimized for conventional QDs. We analyzed the single-molecule properties of each of these nanomaterials classes to determine their benefits and weaknesses for a variety of bioimaging applications, focusing on flow cytometry and immunolabeling. Interestingly, biomolecular conjugates of NRs and NPLs showed much faster binding kinetics compared QDs of similar volume and compared with organic dyes. This phase transfer strategy extends the applications of anisotropic semiconductor nanocrystals in biology, and can help to enable a new understanding of cell-nanomaterial interactions.

Aqueous 0D, 1D, and 2D semiconductor nanocrystals: Single nanoparticle analysis and bioimaging applications

2019 Spring National Meeting

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