Quantum Dots in Biomedical Applications: Recent Advancements and Future Prospects

Quantum dots (QDs) are recognized as semiconductor or fluorescent nanocrystals, which due to their distinctive physical and chemical properties, have been used as a promising tool in various research fields, including biology, drug delivery, bio-medical, and bioimaging. Moreover, most of the conventional organic label dyes are unable to produce emissions in the near-infrared range, whereas it is possible with QDs due to their tunable electrochemical and optical properties. QDs exhibit several features, including better photo and chemical stability, greater quantum yield, and negligible toxicity. In addition, the QDs modified with precise drugs or bioactives attached to its surface have also gained attention as targeting ligands to attain cell targeting with improved theragnostic applications. Various types of QDs could be excited in the presence of a similar wavelength of light, and their fine emission bands could also be detected concurrently for numerous assays. Nowadays, researchers have shown immense interest in the fabrication and establishment of QD-based nano-theranostics platforms which could be efficiently used for sensing, imaging, and therapy simultaneously. This chapter mainly emphasizes the latest progress available in literature related to various biological and biomedical applications of QDs as a potential tool for sensing, biomedical imaging, and drug delivery.