Photoinduced charge-transfer dynamics between CdSe quantum dots (QDs) possessing varying monolayers of ZnS and hole scavengers such as phenothiazine (PT) and N-methylphenothiazine (NMPT) were investigated for optimizing the shell thickness of core−shell quantum dots. Spectroscopic investigations indicate that phenothiazine binds onto the surface of bare CdSe QDs, resulting in the photoluminescence quenching, and two monolayers of ZnS prevent the electron-transfer process. Methodologies presented here can provide quantitative information on the optimum shell thickness of core−shell QDs, which can suppress the undesired electron transfer and provide maximum luminescence yield.

The possibility of developing novel contrast imaging agents for cancer cellular labelling and fluorescence imaging applications were explored using silica-coated cadmium selenide (CdSe) quantum dots (QDs). The time dependent cellular internalization efficiency study was carried out using Inductively Coupled Plasma-Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES) and Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy (cLSM) after exposing QDs to stem cells and cancer cells. The strong fluorescence from the cytoplasm confirmed that the QDs were efficiently internalized by the cells. The internalization maxima were observed at the fourth hour of incubation in both stem and cancer cells. Further, the in vitro fluorescence imaging as well as localization study of QDs were performed in various cells. Moreover, high contrast in vivo tumor imaging efficiency of silica-coated CdSe QDs was performed in ultrathin sections of tumor mice, and the results confirmed its effective role in cellular imaging and labelling in cancer and other diseases.

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