**Author details**

Karunanithi Rajamanickam Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Chettinad Academy of Research and Education (CARE), Tamilnadu, India

\*Address all correspondence to: rkarunanithi@care.edu.in

© 2022 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

*Application of Quantum Dots in Bio-Sensing, Bio-Imaging, Drug Delivery, Anti-Bacterial… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.107018*

## **References**

[1] Chaturvedi S, Dave PN. Nanotechnology: History and Future. 21st Century Nanoscience–A Handbook: Public Policy, Education, and Global Trends. 2020;**10**:4-1

[2] Marzo JL, Jornet JM, Pierobon M. Nanonetworks in biomedical applications. Current Drug Targets. 2019;**20**(8):800-807

[3] Hornyak GL, Moore JJ, Tibbals HF, Dutta J. Fundamentals of Nanotechnology. US: CRC Press; 2018

[4] Khanna V. Nanosensors. US: CRC Press; 2016

[5] Hatzikraniotis E, Kyratsi T. Materials Science: Trends, Material Properties and Educational Perspectives. In: Psillos D, Kariotoglou P, editors. Iterative Design of Teaching-Learning Sequences. Dordrecht: Springer; 2016

[6] Xu S, Cui J, Wang L. Recent developments of low-toxicity NIR II quantum dots for sensing and bioimaging. TrAC Trends in Analytical Chemistry. 2016;**80**:149-155

[7] Viana OS, Ribeiro MS, Fontes A, Santos BS. Quantum Dots in Photodynamic Therapy. In: Batinić-Haberle I, Rebouças J, Spasojević I, editors. Redox-Active Therapeutics. Oxidative Stress in Applied Basic Research and Clinical Practice. Cham: Springer; 2016

[8] McHugh KJ, Jing L, Behrens AM, Jayawardena S, Tang W, Gao M, et al. Biocompatible semiconductor quantum dots as cancer imaging agents. Advanced Materials. 2018;**30**(18):1706356

[9] Grushevskaya H, Krylov G, Kruchinin S, Vlahovic B, Bellucci S. Electronic properties and quasi-zeroenergy states of graphene quantum dots. Physical Review B. 2021;**103**:235102

[10] Pandey P. Role of nanotechnology in electronics: A review of recent developments and patents. Recent Patents on Nanotechnology. 2022;**16**(1):45-66

[11] Leigh WB. Devices for Optoelectronics (1st ed.). US: CRC Press; 2021

[12] Kambhampati P. Nanoparticles, nanocrystals, and quantum dots: What are the implications of size in colloidal nanoscale materials? Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters. 2021;**12**(20):4769-4779

[13] Ghasemi H, Mozaffari MH. Synthesis and optoelectronic properties of CdSe quantum dots. 18 May 2021. pp. 1-4

[14] Duan L, Hu L, Guan X, Lin CH, Chu D, Huang S, et al. Quantum dots for photovoltaics: A tale of two materials. Advanced Energy Materials. 2021;**11**(20):2100354

[15] Slavica B. Applicability of Quantum Dots in Biomedical Science. Djezzar B, editor. Ionizing Radiation Effects and Applications. IntechOpen;2017. DOI: 10.5772/ intechopen.71428

[16] Bera D, Qian L, Tseng T-K, Holloway PH. Quantum dots and their multimodal applications: A review. Materials. 2010;**3**(4):2260-2345

[17] Bakalova R, Zhelev Z, Gadjeva V. Quantum dots versus organic fluorophores in fluorescent deeptissue imaging—Merits and demerits. General Physiology and Biophysics. 2008;**27**(4):231-242

[18] Lee SF, Osborne MA. Brightening, blinking, bluing and bleaching in the life of a quantum dot: Friend or foe? ChemPhysChem. 2009;**10**(13):2174-2191

[19] Sukhanova A, Devy J, Venteo L, Kaplan H, Artemyev M, Oleinikov V, et al. Biocompatible fluorescent nanocrystals for immunolabeling of membrane proteins and cells. Analytical Biochemistry. 2004;**324**(1):60-67

[20] Lin G, Chen T, Zou J, Wang Y, Wang X, Li J, et al. Quantum Dots-siRNA Nanoplexes for Gene Silencing in Central Nervous System Tumor Cells. Frontiers in Pharmacology. 4 Apr 2017;**8**:182. DOI: 10.3389/fphar.2017.00182. PMID: 28420995; PMCID: PMC5378761

[21] Wang M, Li H, Huang B, Chen S, Cui R, Sun ZJ, et al. An Ultra-Stable, Oxygen-Supply Nanoprobe Emitting in Near-Infrared-II Window to Guide and Enhance Radiotherapy by Promoting Anti-Tumor Immunity. Advanced Healthcare Materials. Jun 2021;**10**(12):e2100090. DOI: 10.1002/adhm.202100090. Epub 2021 Apr 22. PMID: 33885213

[22] Rezaei A, Hashemi E. A pseudohomogeneous nanocarrier based on carbon quantum dots decorated with arginine as an efficient gene delivery vehicle. Scientific Reports. 2021;**11**(1):13790

[23] Zhang Y, Wang T-H. Quantum dot enabled molecular sensing and diagnostics. Theranostics. 2012;**2**(7):631-654

[24] Xiao Y, Wu Z, Yao Q, Xie J. Luminescent metal nanoclusters: Biosensing strategies and bioimaging applications. Aggregate. 2021;**2**(1):114-132

[25] Naresh V, Lee N. A review on biosensors and recent development of nanostructured materials-enabled biosensors. Sensors. 2021;**21**(4):1109

[26] Wang J, Han S, Ke D, Wang R. Semiconductor quantum dots surface modification for potential cancer diagnostic and therapeutic applications. Journal of Nanomaterials. 2012;**2012**:129041

[27] Wen L, Qiu L, Wu Y, Hu X, Zhang X. Aptamer-modified semiconductor quantum dots for biosensing applications. Sensors, Basel. 2017;**17**(8):1-14. OI: 10.3390/s17081736. PMID: 28788080; PMCID: PMC5579848

[28] Nienhaus K, Wang H, Nienhaus GU. Nanoparticles for biomedical applications: Exploring and exploiting molecular interactions at the nano-bio interface. Materials Today Advances. 2020;**5**:100036

[29] Wen L, Qiu L, Wu Y, Hu X, Zhang X. Aptamer-Modified Semiconductor Quantum Dots for Biosensing Applications. Sensors (Basel). 2017 Jul 28;**17**(8):1-14. DOI: 10.3390/s17081736. PMID: 28788080; PMCID: PMC5579848

[30] Freeman R, Girsh J, Willner I. Nucleic acid/quantum dots (QDs) hybrid systems for optical and photoelectrochemical sensing. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. 2013;**5**(8):2815-2834

[31] Manzoor O, Soleja N, Mohsin MJ. Nanoscale gizmos—The novel fluorescent probes for monitoring protein activity. Biochemical Engineering Journal. 2018;**133**:83-95

[32] Gopalan D, Pandey A, Alex AT, Kalthur G, Pandey S, Udupa N, et al. Nanoconstructs as a versatile tool for detection and diagnosis of Alzheimer biomarkers. Nanotechnology. 2021;**32**(14):142002

[33] Younis MR, He G, Qu J, Lin J, Huang P, Xia XH. Inorganic nanomaterials with intrinsic singlet oxygen generation for photodynamic *Application of Quantum Dots in Bio-Sensing, Bio-Imaging, Drug Delivery, Anti-Bacterial… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.107018*

therapy. Advanced Science. 2021;**8**(21):2102587

[34] Konkar A, Lu S, Madhukar A, Hughes SM, Alivisatos AP. Semiconductor nanocrystal quantum dots on single crystal semiconductor substrates: High resolution transmission electron microscopy. Nano Letters. 2005;**5**(5):969-973

[35] Xing Y, Chaudry Q, Shen C, Kong KY, Zhau HE, Chung LW, et al. Bioconjugated quantum dots for multiplexed and quantitative immunohistochemistry. Nature Protocols. 2007;**2**(5):1152-1165

[36] Smith AM, Dave S, Nie S, True L, Gao X. Multicolor quantum dots for molecular diagnostics of cancer. Expert Review of Molecular Diagnostics. 2006;**6**(2):231-244

[37] Derfus AM, Chan WCW, Bhatia SN. Probing the cytotoxicity of semiconductor quantum dots. Nano Letters. 2004;**4**(1):11-18

[38] Guo G, Liu W, Liang J, Xu H, He Z, Yang X. Preparation and characterization of novel CdSe quantum dots modified with poly (d, l-lactide) nanoparticles. Materials Letters. 2006;**60**(21):2565-2568

[39] Hong G, Antaris AL, Dai H. Nearinfrared fluorophores for biomedical imaging. Nature Biomedical Engineering. 2017;**1**(1):0010

[40] Yang ST, Wang X, Wang H, Lu F, Luo PG, Cao L, et al. Carbon dots as nontoxic and high-performance fluorescence imaging agents. The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, Nanomaterials and Interfaces. 2009;**113**(42):18110-18114

[41] Jackson B, Bugge D, Ranville J, Chen C. Bioavailability, toxicity, and bioaccumulation of quantum dot nanoparticles to the amphipod

Leptocheirus plumulosus. Environmental Science & Technology. 2012;**46**:5550-5556

[42] Clift MJD, Stone V. Quantum dots: An insight and perspective of their biological interaction and how this relates to their relevance for clinical use. Theranostics. 2012;**2**(7):668-680

[43] Jain NS, Somanna P, Patil BA. Application of quantum dots in drug delivery. Nanoscience & Nanotechnology-Asia. 2022;**12**(1):16-31

[44] Probst CE, Zrazhevskiy P, Bagalkot V, Gao X. Quantum dots as a platform for nanoparticle drug delivery vehicle design. Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews. 2013;**65**(5):703-718

[45] Matea CT, Mocan T, Tabaran F, Pop T, Mosteanu O, Puia C, et al. Quantum dots in imaging, drug delivery and sensor applications. International Journal of Nanomedicine. 2017;**12**:5421-5431

[46] Gidwani B, Sahu V, Shukla SS, Pandey R, Joshi V, Jain VK, et al. Quantum dots: Prospectives, toxicity, advances and applications. Journal of Drug Delivery Science and Technology. 2021;**61**:102308

[47] Kairdolf BA, Smith AM, Stokes TH, Wang MD, Young AN, Nie S. Semiconductor quantum dots for bioimaging and biodiagnostic applications. Annual Review of Analytical Chemistry. 2013;**6**(1):143-162

[48] Song JT, Yang XQ, Zhang XS, Yan DM, Yao MH, Qin MY, et al. Composite silica coated gold nanosphere and quantum dots nanoparticles for X-ray CT and fluorescence bimodal imaging. Dalton transactions (Cambridge, England: 2003). 2015;**44**(25):11314-11320

[49] Ranjbar-Navazi Z, Fathi M, Abdolahinia ED, Omidi Y, Davaran SJMS, et al. MUC-1 aptamer conjugated InP/ZnS quantum dots/nanohydrogel fluorescent composite for mitochondria-mediated apoptosis in MCF-7 cells. Materials Science and Engineering: C. 2021;**118**:111469

[50] Cai X, Luo Y, Yan H, Du D, Lin Y. pH-responsive ZnO nanocluster for lung cancer chemotherapy. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. 2017;**9**(7):5739-5747

[51] Cai X, Luo Y, Zhang W, Du D, Lin Y. pH-Sensitive ZnO quantum dots– doxorubicin nanoparticles for lung cancer targeted drug delivery. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. 2016;**8**(34):22442-22450

[52] Matea CT, Mocan T, Tabaran F, Pop T, Mosteanu O, Puia C, et al. Quantum dots in imaging, drug delivery and sensor applications. International Journal of Nanomedicine. 2017;**12**:5421

[53] Li Y, Liu B, Yang F, Yu Y, Zeng A, Ye T, et al. Lobaplatin induces BGC-823 human gastric carcinoma cell apoptosis via ROS-mitochondrial apoptotic pathway and impairs cell migration and invasion. Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy = Biomedecine & Pharmacotherapie. 2016;**83**:1239-1246

[54] Han W, Wu Z, Li Y, Wang Y. Graphene family nanomaterials (GFNs)—Promising materials for antimicrobial coating and film: A review. Chemical Engineering Journal. 2019;**358**:1022-1037

[55] Dong X, Liang W, Meziani MJ, Sun YP, Yang L. Carbon dots as potent antimicrobial agents. Theranostics. 2020;**10**(2):671-686

[56] Al Awak MM, Wang P, Wang S, Tang Y, Sun YP, Yang L. Correlation of carbon dots' light-activated antimicrobial activities and fluorescence quantum yield. RSC Advances. 2017;**7**(48):30177-30184

[57] McCollum C, Bertram J, Nagpal P, Chatterjee A. Treatment of Multidrug-Resistant Bacterial Infections Using Quantum Dots. The FASEB Journal. 2022;**36**. DOI: 10.1096/fasebj.2022.36. S1.R4869

[58] Rajendiran K, Zhao Z, Pei D-S, Fu AJ. Antimicrobial activity and mechanism of functionalized quantum dots. Polymers. 2019;**11**(10):1670

[59] Shahshahanipour M, Rezaei B, Ensafi AA, Etemadifar Z. An ancient plant for the synthesis of a novel carbon dot and its applications as an antibacterial agent and probe for sensing of an anti-cancer drug. Materials Science and Engineering: C. 2019;**98**:826-833

[60] Elliott AG, Huang JX, Neve S, Zuegg J, Edwards IA, Cain AK, et al. An amphipathic peptide with antibiotic activity against multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria. Nature Communications. 2020;**11**(1):1-13

[61] Shaw Z, Kuriakose S, Cheeseman S, Dickey MD, Genzer J, Christofferson AJ, et al. Antipathogenic properties and applications of low-dimensional materials. Nature Communications. 2021;**12**(1):1-19

[62] Shikha S, Chaudhuri SR, Bhattacharyya MS. Facile one pot greener synthesis of sophorolipid capped gold nanoparticles and its antimicrobial activity having special efficacy against gram negative vibrio cholerae. Scientific Reports. 2020;**10**(1):1463

[63] Hao X, Huang L, Zhao C, Chen S, Lin W, Lin Y, et al. Antibacterial activity of positively charged carbon quantum dots without detectable resistance for

*Application of Quantum Dots in Bio-Sensing, Bio-Imaging, Drug Delivery, Anti-Bacterial… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.107018*

wound healing with mixed bacteria infection. Materials Science and Engineering: C. 2021;**123**:111971

[64] Yang J, Zhang X, Ma YH, Gao G, Chen X, Jia HR, et al. Carbon dot-based platform for simultaneous bacterial distinguishment and antibacterial applications. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. 2016;**8**(47):32170-32181

[65] Lin F, Bao Y-W, Wu F-G. Carbon dots for sensing and killing microorganisms. Journal of Carbon Research. 2019;**5**(2):33

[66] Machado GHA, Marques TR, de Carvalho TCL, Duarte AC, de Oliveira FC, Gonçalves MC, et al. Antibacterial activity and in vivo wound healing potential of phenolic extracts from Jaboticaba skin. Chemical Biology & Drug Design. 2018;**92**(1):1333-1343

[67] Zhao C, Wang X, Yu L, Wu L, Hao X, Liu Q, et al. Quaternized carbon quantum dots with broad-spectrum antibacterial activity for the treatment of wounds infected with mixed bacteria. Acta Biomaterialia. 2022;**138**:528-544

[68] Zmejkoski DZ, Marković ZM, Mitić DD, Zdravković NM, Kozyrovska NO, Bugárová N, et al. Antibacterial composite hydrogels of graphene quantum dots and bacterial cellulose accelerate wound healing. Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part B, Applied Biomaterials. 2022;**110**(8):1796-1805

[69] Chai S, Zhou L, Pei S, Zhu Z, Chen B. P-Doped Carbon Quantum Dots with Antibacterial Activity. Micromachines. 2021;**12**:1116. DOI: 10.3390/mi12091116

[70] Wu L, Gao Y, Zhao C, Huang D, Chen W, Lin X, et al. Synthesis of curcumin-quaternized carbon quantum dots with enhanced broad-spectrum antibacterial activity for promoting

infected wound healing. Biomaterials Advances. 2022;**133**:112608

[71] Wagalgave SM, Birajdar SS, Malegaonkar JN, Bhosale SV. Chapter Eight - Patented AIE materials for biomedical applications. Bhosale RS, Singh V, editors. Progress in Molecular Biology and Translational Science, Academic Press; 2021;**185**:199-223

[72] Fong JFY, Ng YH, Ng SM. Chapter 7 - Carbon dots as a new class of light emitters for biomedical diagnostics and therapeutic applications, Grumezescu AM, editor. Fullerens, Graphenes and Nanotubes. William Andrew Publishing; 2018:227-295. (Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus, Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia)

[73] Dolatyari M, Aghdam FA, Rostami G, Rostami A, Amiri IS. Introducing new conjugated quantum dots for photothermal therapy in biological applications. Plasmonics. 2020;**15**(6):1565-1575

[74] Zhang M, Zheng T, Sheng B, Wu F, Zhang Q, Wang W, et al. Mn2+ complexmodified polydopamine- and dual emissive carbon dots based nanoparticles for in vitro and in vivo trimodality fluorescent, photothermal, and magnetic resonance imaging. Chemical Engineering Journal. 2019;**373**:1054-1063

[75] Tu X, Wang L, Cao Y, Ma Y, Shen H, Zhang M, et al. Efficient cancer ablation by combined photothermal and enhanced chemo-therapy based on carbon nanoparticles/doxorubicin@SiO2 nanocomposites. Carbon. 2016;**97**:35-44

[76] Xie H, Liu M, You B, Luo G, Chen Y, Liu B, et al. Photothermal Therapy: Biodegradable Bi2O2Se Quantum Dots for Photoacoustic Imaging-Guided Cancer Photothermal Therapy (Small 1/2020). Small, US. 2020;**16**:2070013

[77] Ding D, Guo W, Guo C, Sun J, Zheng N, Wang F, et al. MoO(3-x) quantum dots for photoacoustic imaging guided photothermal/photodynamic cancer treatment. Nanoscale. 2017;**9**(5):2020-2029

[78] Guo T, Tang Q, Guo Y, Qiu H, Dai J, Xing C, et al. Boron quantum dots for photoacoustic imaging-guided photothermal therapy. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. 2021;**13**(1):306-311

[79] Chilakamarthi U, Giribabu L. Photodynamic therapy: Past, present and future. The Chemical Record. 2017;**17**(8):775-802

[80] Tabish TA, Scotton CJ, Ferguson J, Lin L, der Veen AV, Lowry S, et al. Biocompatibility and toxicity of graphene quantum dots for potential application in photodynamic therapy. Nanomedicine. 2018;**13**(15):1923-1937

[81] Algorri JF, Ochoa M, Roldán-Varona P, Rodríguez-Cobo L, López-Higuera JM. Photodynamic therapy: A compendium of latest reviews. Cancers. 2021;**13**(17):4447

[82] Niculescu A-G, Grumezescu AM. Photodynamic therapy—An up-todate review. Applied Sciences. 2021;**11**(8):3626

[83] Martynenko IV, Kuznetsova VA, Orlova AO, Kanaev PA, Maslov VG, Loudon A, et al. Chlorin e6–ZnSe/ZnS quantum dots based system as reagent for photodynamic therapy. Nanotechnology. 2015;**26**(5):055102

[84] Lu D, Tao R, Wang Z. Carbonbased materials for photodynamic therapy: A mini-review. Frontiers of Chemical Science and Engineering. 2019;**13**(2):310-323

[85] Palui G, Aldeek F, Wang W, Mattoussi H. Strategies for interfacing inorganic nanocrystals with biological systems based on polymercoating. Chemical Society Reviews. 2015;**44**(1):193-227

[86] Volkov Y. Quantum dots in nanomedicine: Recent trends, advances and unresolved issues. Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications. 2015;**468**(3):419-427

[87] Aizik G, Waiskopf N, Agbaria M, Ben-David-Naim M, Levi-Kalisman Y, Shahar A, et al. Liposomes of quantum dots configured for passive and active delivery to tumor tissue. Nano Letters. 2019;**19**(9):5844-5852

[88] Nasrin A, Hassan M, Gomes VG. Twophoton active nucleus-targeting carbon dots: Enhanced ROS generation and photodynamic therapy for oral cancer. Nanoscale. 2020;**12**(40):20598-20603

[89] Li X, Rui M, Song J, Shen Z, Zeng H. Carbon and graphene quantum dots for optoelectronic and energy devices: A review. Advanced Functional Materials. 2015;**25**(31):4929-4947

[90] Kim J, Song S, Kim Y-H, Park SK. Recent progress of quantum dot-based photonic devices and systems: A comprehensive review of materials. Devices, and Applications. 2021;**2**(3):2000024

[91] Yuan F, Li S, Fan Z, Meng X, Fan L, Yang S. Shining carbon dots: Synthesis and biomedical and optoelectronic applications. Nano Today. 2016;**11**(5):565-586

[92] Wu J, Chen S, Seeds A, Liu H. Quantum dot optoelectronic devices: Lasers, photodetectors and solar cells. Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics. 2015;**48**(36):363001

[93] Fang J, Zhou Z, Xiao M, Lou Z, Wei Z, Shen G. Recent advances in

*Application of Quantum Dots in Bio-Sensing, Bio-Imaging, Drug Delivery, Anti-Bacterial… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.107018*

low-dimensional semiconductor nanomaterials and their applications in high-performance photodetectors. InfoMat. 2020;**2**(2):291-317

[94] Benelmekki M. Zero-dimensional nanostructures. In: Nanomaterials [Internet]. Morgan & Claypool Publishers; 2019. pp. 3-1-3-18. DOI: 10.1088/2053-2571/ab126dch3

[95] Gajjela RSR, Koenraad PM. Atomicscale characterization of droplet epitaxy quantum dots. Nanomaterials. 2021;**11**(1):85

[96] Mitin V, Antipov A, Sergeev A, Vagidov N, Eason D, Strasser G. Quantum dot infrared photodetectors: Photoresponse enhancement due to potential barriers. Nanoscale Research Letters. 2011;**6**(1):21

[97] Bergeson J, Bommena R, Fahey S, Cowan V, Morath C, Velicu S. Mid and long wavelength infrared HgCdTe photodetectors exposed to proton radiation. In: Proceedings of SPIE. SPIE; 2014;**9226**:92260P-1-10

[98] Blood P. Quantum Efficiency of Quantum Dot Lasers, in IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics. 2017;**23**(6):1-8. Art no. 1900608, DOI: 10.1109/JSTQE.2017.2687039

[99] Zhang W, Lim H-C, Taguchi M, Tsao S, Szafraniec J, Movaghar B, et al. High performance In As quantum dot infrared photodetectors (QDIP) on InP by MOCVD. In: Proceedings of SPIE 5732, Quantum Sensing and Nanophotonic Devices II. 25 Mar 2005. pp. 1-8

[100] Rogalski A. Progress in quantum dot infrared photodetectors. In: Tong X, Wu J, Wang ZM, editors. Quantum Dot Photodetectors. Cham: Springer International Publishing; 2021. pp. 1-74

[101] Jiao H, Wang X, Chen Y, Guo S, Wu S, Song C, et al. HgCdTe/ black phosphorus van der Waals heterojunction for high-performance polarization-sensitive midwave infrared photodetector. Science Advances. 2022;**8**(19):eabn1811

[102] Chatterjee A, Jagtap A, Pendyala N, Rao K. HgCdTe quantum dot over interdigitated electrode for mid-wave infrared photon detection and its noise characterization. International Journal of Nanoscience. 2019;**19**:1950020

[103] Song H, Lin Y, Zhang Z, Rao H, Wang W, Fang Y, et al. Improving the efficiency of quantum dot sensitized solar cells beyond 15% via secondary deposition. Journal of the American Chemical Society. 2021;**143**(12):4790-4800

[104] Kim Y, Ban K-Y, Honsberg CB. Multi-stacked InAs/GaAs quantum dots grown with different growth modes for quantum dot solar cells. Applied Physics Letters. 2015;**106**(22):222104

[105] Pu J, Takenobu T. Recent advances in light-emitting electrochemical cells with low-dimensional quantum materials. Nihon Gazo Gakkaishi (Journal of the Imaging Society of Japan). 2021;**60**(6):656-672

[106] Wu T, Zhang T, Chen Y, Tang M. Research advances on potential neurotoxicity of quantum dots. Journal of Applied Toxicology. 2016;**36**(3):345-351

[107] Friehs E, AlSalka Y, Jonczyk R, Lavrentieva A, Jochums A, Walter J-G, et al. Toxicity, phototoxicity and biocidal activity of nanoparticles employed in photocatalysis. Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology C: Photochemistry Reviews. 2016;**29**:1-28

[108] Casals E, Casals G, Puntes V, Rosenholm JM. 1 - Biodistribution, Excretion, and Toxicity of Inorganic Nanoparticles. Cui W, Zhao X, editors. In: Micro and Nano Technologies, Theranostic Bionanomaterials. USA: Elsevier; 2019:3-26

[109] Liu J, Wang Y, Ma J, Peng Y, Wang A. A review on bidirectional analogies between the photocatalysis and antibacterial properties of ZnO. Journal of Alloys and Compounds. 2019;**783**:898-918

[110] Wang Z, Tang M. The cytotoxicity of core-shell or nonshell structure quantum dots and reflection on environmental friendly: A review. Environmental Research. 2021;**194**:110593

[111] Reshma VG, Mohanan PV. Quantum dots: Applications and safety consequences. Journal of Luminescence. 2019;**205**:287-298

[112] Paydary P. Degradation of Quantum Dots in Aqueous Environments. Diss. Northeastern University, US. 2018

[113] Pramanik Sunipa and Hill, Samantha KE. and Zhi, Bo and Hudson-Smith, Natalie V. and Wu, Jeslin J. and White, Jacob N. and McIntire, Eileen A. and Kondeti, V. S. Santosh K. and Lee, Amani L. and Bruggeman, Peter J. and Kortshagen, Uwe R. and Haynes, Christy L.", Comparative toxicity assessment of novel Si quantum dots and their traditional Cd-based counterparts using bacteria models Shewanella oneidensis and Bacillus subtilis. Environmental science: Nano. 2018;**5**(8):1890-1901

[114] Hlavata L, Striesova I, Ignat T, Blaskovisova J, Ruttkay-Nedecky B, Kopel P, et al. An electrochemical DNA-based biosensor to study the effects of CdTe quantum dots on UV-induced damage of DNA. Microchimica Acta. 2015;**182**(9):1715-1722

[115] Rocha TL, Mestre NC, Sabóia-Morais SM, Bebianno MJ. Environmental behaviour and ecotoxicity of quantum dots at various trophic levels: A review. Environment International. 2017;**98**: 1-17. DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2016.09.021. Epub 2016 Oct 13. PMID: 27745949

[116] Kubicek-Sutherland JZ, Makarov NS, Stromberg ZR, Lenz KD, Castañeda C, Mercer AN, et al. Exploring the biocompatibility of near-IR CuInSe x S2–x/ZnS quantum dots for deep-tissue. Bioimaging. 2020;**3**(12):8567-8574

[117] Bayer M. Bridging two worlds: Colloidal versus epitaxial quantum dots. Advances in Physics of Semiconductors. 2019;**531**(6):1900039

[118] Javanbakht S, Shaabani A. Stimuli-Responsive Bio-Based Quantum Dots in Biomedical Applications. In: Nanoengineering of Biomaterials, Jana S, Jana S, editors. 2022. DOI: 10.1002/9783527832095.ch28
