Article Title

Biosynthesis of biocompatible cadmium telluride quantum dots using yeast cells

Authors

Haifeng Bao, Department of Chemical Engineering, Monash University, Clayton, VIC3800, Australia
Na Hao, Department of Chemical Engineering, Monash University, Clayton, VIC3800, Australia
Yunxia Yang, Department of Chemical Engineering, Monash University, Clayton, VIC3800, Australia
Dongyuan Zhao, Department of Chemical Engineering, Monash University, Clayton, VIC3800, Australia

Keywords

Cadmium telluride (CdTe) quantum dots, biosynthesis, biocompatible, in situ bio-imaging

Abstract

We demonstrate a simple and efficient biosynthesis method to prepare easily harvested biocompatible cadmium telluride (CdTe) quantum dots (QDs) with tunable fluorescence emission using yeast cells. Ultraviolet–visible (UV–vis) spectroscopy, photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) confirm that the CdTe QDs are formed via an extracellular growth and subsequent endocytosis pathway and have size-tunable optical properties with fluorescence emission from 490 to 560 nm and a cubic zinc blende structure with good crystallinity. In particular, the CdTe QDs with uniform size (2–3.6 nm) are protein-capped, which makes them highly soluble in water, and in situ bio-imaging in yeast cells indicates that the biosynthesized QDs have good biocompatibility. This work provides an economic and environmentally friendly approach to synthesize highly fluorescent biocompatible CdTe QDs for bio-imaging and bio-labeling applications.

Graphical Abstract

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-010-0008-6

Publisher

Tsinghua University Press

Recommended Citation

Haifeng Bao,Na Hao,Yunxia Yang,Dongyuan Zhao, Biosynthesis of biocompatible cadmium telluride quantum dots using yeast cells. NanoRes.2010, 3: 481–489