Fluorescent quantum dots-based hydrogels: Synthesis, fabrication and multimodal biosensing

Abstract

Hydrogels have a significant impact on the fields of biological study and medical diagnosis. They are becoming more useful in bioanalytical and biosensing applications. The intriguing new nanomaterials quantum dots-hydrogel composites have gained a lot of interest because of their unmatched biocompatibility and tolerable biodegradability, which opens up a wide range of possible applications. Focusing on synthesis techniques, this review describes current developments in quantum dots-hydrogel composites, such as hydrogel gelation in quantum dots (QDs) solution, inserting prepared QDs into hydrogels after gelation, generating QDs in situ inside the preformed gel, and cross-linking through QDs. Biomedical applications such as bioimaging and biosensing are specifically examined, and then the inherent problems of design optimisation, biocompatibility, and bimodal applications, as well as the potential of future development, are discussed.

Keywords

• Hydrogels
• Biosensing
• Quantum dots
• Biocompatibility
• Biomedical applications