Semiconductor nanocrystals as rare-earth alternatives

Semiconductor nanocrystals as fluorescent biological labels.

Semiconductor nanocrystals were prepared for use as fluorescent probes in biological staining and diagnostics. Compared with conventional fluorophores, the nanocrystals have a narrow, tunable, symmetric emission spectrum and are photochemically stable. The advantages of the broad, continuous excitation spectrum were demonstrated in a dual-emission, single-excitation labeling experiment on mouse...

Rare Earth-Doped Nanocrystals for Biosensing and Imaging

There has been a great deal of interest in the fabrication and characterization of highly luminescent nanoparticles because of their potential applications as nanosensors and as biosensors for applications such as molecular diagnostics. The organic dyes currently used in biomedical applications of imaging and immunoassays have advantages such as commercial availability and high quantum yield, b...

Rare Earth Ion-Doped Upconversion Nanocrystals: Synthesis and Surface Modification

The unique luminescent properties exhibited by rare earth ion-doped upconversion nanocrystals (UCNPs), such as long lifetime, narrow emission line, high color purity, and high resistance to photobleaching, have made them widely used in many areas, including but not limited to high-resolution displays, new-generation information technology, optical communication, bioimaging, and therapy. However...

Semiconductor Nanocrystals

Core/Shell semiconductor nanocrystals.

Colloidal core/shell nanocrystals contain at least two semiconductor materials in an onionlike structure. The possibility to tune the basic optical properties of the core nanocrystals, for example, their fluorescence wavelength, quantum yield, and lifetime, by growing an epitaxial-type shell of another semiconductor has fueled significant progress on the chemical synthesis of these systems. In ...