Cadmium-Free Quantum Dots as Time-Gated Bioimaging Probes in Highly-Autofluorescent Human Breast Cancer Cells

摘要

We report cadmium-free, biocompatible (Zn)CuInS2 quantum dots with long fluorescence lifetimes as superior bioimaging probes using time-gated detection to suppress cell autofluorescence and improve the signal:background ratio by an order of magnitude. These results will be important for developing non-toxic fluorescence imaging probes for ultrasensitive biomedical diagnostics.