Production and nano-characterisation of II-VI semiconductor quantum dots from plant cell cultures

具有半导体性质的纳米晶体在医学、微电子和废物处理等方面具有潜在的应用前景。需要廉价、可靠的方法来生产大量的单分散纳米颗粒。最常用的是溶液技术；然而，生产稳定、高质量的颗粒仍然很困难。利用植物细胞培养进行生物合成具有几个重要的优点。由于肽盖层被纳入生物组装过程，纳米颗粒的尺寸受到限制，稳定性得到改善，表面被钝化。应用植物培养生产纳米晶体是一种新的方法，有可能显著提高量子点的质量。

Nanocrystallites with semiconductor properties have potential applications in medicine, microelectronics and waste treatment. Cheap, reliable methods for producing large quantities of monodisperse nanoparticles are required. Solution techniques have been used most commonly; however, production of stable, high-quality particles remains difficult. Biological synthesis using plant cell culture offers several important advantages. As peptide capping is incorporated into the biological assembly process, the nanoparticles are restricted in size, their stability is improved, and their surfaces are passivated. Application of plant cultures for nanocrystallite production is a novel approach with the potential to yield significant improvements in the quality of manufactured quantum dots.