Consisting of six chapters, written by experts in their field, this book charts the progress made in the use of quantum dots as the signaling component in optical sensors since their discovery in the early 1980s. In particular, it focuses on CdS-, CdSe-, and CdTe-type QDs due to their emission in the visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum. The book begins by detailing the range of methods currently used for the preparation and passivation of core/core–shell quantum dots and follows with a discussion on their electrochemical properties and potential toxicity. The book culminates by focusing on how electron and energy transfer mechanisms can be utilized to generate a range of quantum dot-based probes. This is the first text of its kind dedicated to quantum dot-based sensors and will appeal to those readers who have an interest in working with these versatile nanoparticles.

 

 

About the Authors

 

John F. Callan received his BSc (Hons) in 1995 and PhD in chemistry in 1999 from the Queens University of Belfast (QUB), Northern Ireland. After working in the pharmaceutical industry for four years, he returned to QUB in 2003 to undertake a postdoctoral appointment in the lab of Prof AP de Silva. He was appointed lecturer in pharmaceutical chemistry at Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, Scotland, in 2004 and senior lecturer in pharmaceutical science at the University of Ulster, Northern Ireland, in 2009, where he was promoted to reader in 2010. His research interests include the use of quantum dots in fluorescent sensing and photodynamic therapy applications, an area in which he has more than 30 publications.

 

Françisco M. Raymo received a Laurea in Chemistry from the University of Messina, Italy, in 1992 and PhD in Chemistry from the University of Birmingham, UK, in 1996. He was a postdoctoral associate at the University of Birmingham, UK in 1996–1997 and at the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1997–1999. He was appointed assistant professor of chemistry at the University of Miami, Florida, in 2000 and promoted to associate professor in 2004 and full professor in 2009. His research interests combine the design, synthesis and analysis of switchable molecular construct for imaging applications. He is the author of more than 180 publications.