Incorporating quantum dots into polymer microspheres via a spray-drying andthermal-denaturizing approach

Abstract

Bovine serum albumin (BSA) microspheres incorporated with CdTe quantum dots(QDs) have been prepared via a spray-drying and thermal-denaturizing approach.The results show that the morphology of the composites obtained was greatlyaffected by the inlet temperature and the initial concentration of BSA in theprecursor. Most of the composites prepared with 0.6 mM BSA in the precursor at40 °C were spherical in shape and hollow. The thermal-denaturized microsphereswere water-insoluble, and separated from each other after dispersing in water.Each microsphere had bright fluorescence with pure colour. The microsphereswithout thermal-denaturation dissolved easily in water, and released nanospheres(>8 nm) that consisted of many CdTe nanoparticles(<3 nm). This approach opens the possibility of rapidly preparing QDs microspheres withcontrolled fluorescence intensity or with separated multiemission peaks for biomedicalapplications.