Abstract
3-Mercaptopropyl acid (MPA) capped CdTe quantum dots (QDs) were embedded into CaCO 3 microparticles with a size of 1.4–4.4 μm by addition of the QDs into Ca(NO 3) 2 solution during a mineralization process. Compared to the parent QDs, about 1/7–1/3 photoluminescence efficiency of the embedded QDs was preserved, enabling the CaCO 3(CdTe) particles visible under UV irradiation. The structure and morphology of the CaCO 3(CdTe) particles were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV–vis spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM). Protected by the CaCO 3 particles, the QDs in the composites were more stable against long term storage, UV irradiation and cell culture medium containing serum. The CaCO 3(CdTe) particles could be internalized into live cells, human liver cancer cells (HepG2), for example, and most of which distributed in the lysosomes as revealed by confocal microscopy. Also the CaCO 3(CdTe) particles had low cytotoxicity in comparison with the parent CdTe QDs.
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