Quantum Dots for Selective Biosensing and Analytical Applications in Complex Matrices

A special issue of Nanomaterials (ISSN 2079-4991). This special issue belongs to the section "Nanoelectronics, Nanosensors and Devices".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 August 2026 | Viewed by 886

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
LAQV, REQUIMTE, Laboratory of Applied Chemistry, Department of Chemical Sciences, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
Interests: quantum dots; fluorescence; analytical chemistry; chemometrics

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Due to their unique optical and electrical properties, quantum dots (QDs) are fluorescent nanoparticles that are gaining attention in numerous scientific fields. Their singular characteristics, such as size-dependent emission, high photostability, and broad excitation spectra, make them valuable nanoplatforms for various applications, including chemical analysis, bioimaging, nanomedicine, and environmental monitoring.

This Special Issue aims to use quantum dots for selective biosensing and analytical applications, especially in complex matrices (such as biological fluids, food samples, or environmental matrices). Integrating QDs into innovative sensing platforms for multiplexed detection represents another promising avenue of research.

Original research articles and reviews focusing on innovative approaches using QDs for developing sensing platforms and analytical techniques with improved selectivity settings are encouraged.

Dr. Rafael C. Castro
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • quantum dots
  • fluorescence
  • analytical chemistry
  • biosensing
  • nanodiagnostics

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

24 pages, 3929 KB  
Article
A Dual Quantum Dot Fluorescent Probe for Time-Resolved Chemometric Detection of Chloramphenicolin Pharmaceuticals
by Rafael C. Castro, Ricardo N. M. J. Páscoa, João L. M. Santos and David S. M. Ribeiro
Nanomaterials 2026, 16(5), 322; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano16050322 - 4 Mar 2026
Viewed by 549
Abstract
Dual-emission photoluminescence (PL) nanoprobes provide improved analytical performance to develop a reliable and sensitive sensing platform for quantifying chloramphenicol in pharmaceutical samples, thereby ensuring therapeutic efficacy and patient safety. In this work, a dual-emission PL sensing platform combining carbon dots (CDs) and AgInS [...] Read more.
Dual-emission photoluminescence (PL) nanoprobes provide improved analytical performance to develop a reliable and sensitive sensing platform for quantifying chloramphenicol in pharmaceutical samples, thereby ensuring therapeutic efficacy and patient safety. In this work, a dual-emission PL sensing platform combining carbon dots (CDs) and AgInS2 quantum dots (QDs) capped with mercaptopropionic acid (MPA) was developed for the quantitative determination of chloramphenicol, resorting to chemometric methods for data analysis. CDs, CdTe QDs, and AgInS2 QDs were synthesized and individually evaluated considering their photostability, PL response and kinetics of their interaction with the antibiotic. After this, two dual-emission probes, CDs/MPA-CdTe and CDs/MPA-AgInS2, were prepared and assessed based on the complementarity of their individual emission features. The obtained kinetic PL dataset was processed using unfolded partial least squares (U-PLS) in order to explore the multidimensional information of the dual-emission systems and to evaluate the performance of both sensing platforms. CDs/MPA-AgInS2 probe was demonstrated to be the most efficient sensing platform due to its better compromise between sensitivity and photostability, as well as its cadmium-free composition, allowing the implementation of a more environmentally friendly analytical methodology. The optimization of the U-PLS models involved the assessment of the kinetic acquisition time and different spectral regions. The results showed that reliable, sensitive and efficient quantification could be achieved within the first 5 min of interaction and using the full emission spectrum of the sensing probe. Additionally, different interaction mechanisms were observed for each nanomaterial in the combined probe, being static for the CDs/chloramphenicol interaction and dynamic for MPA-AgInS2/chloramphenicol interaction, which supports the synergetic behavior of the combined probe. The proposed methodology was effectively applied to commercial pharmaceutical formulations, yielding accurate results with good figures of merit. Therefore, this approach can be used as a relevant alternative to existing methodologies for a rapid, robust, and environmentally friendly method for chloramphenicol quantification. Full article
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