CHAPTER 2: Near Infrared Quantum Dots for Bioimaging

Bioimaging facilitates the monitoring and recording of both structural and functional information, from subcellular organelles to the whole-body level, enabling the diagnosis of various diseases with sufficient sensitivity and accuracy. Quantum dots (QDs) have attracted extensive attention in biomedical research and applications because they are characterized by broad excitation spectra, narrow and symmetric emission peak, ultrahigh brightness, great stability, and resistance to photobleaching. Furthermore, the emissions of QDs are highly tunable. Bioimaging based on near infrared (NIR) QDs has advantages including lower absorption and relatively low autofluorescence, resulting in deeper penetration and lower background radiation. With the development of non-toxic QDs and new imaging techniques, bioimaging based on NIR QDs, especially for in vivo bioimaging, have become highly focused in recent years.