Aqueous synthesis of high bright and tunable near-infrared AgInSe2–ZnSe quantum dots for bioimaging

Efficient synthetic methods for near-infrared quantum dots with good biophysical properties as bioimaging agents are urgently required. In this work, a simple and fast synthesis of highly luminescent , near-infrared AgInSe 2 –ZnSe quantum dots (QDs) with tunable emissions in aqueous media is reported. This method avoids high temperature and pressure and organic solvents to directly generate water-dispersible AgInSe 2 –ZnSe QDs. The photoluminescence emission peak of the AgInSe 2 –ZnSe QDs ranged from 625 to 940   nm, with quantum yields up to 31%. The AgInSe 2 –ZnSe QDs with high quantum yield, near-infrared and low cytotoxic could be used as good cell labels, showing great potential applications in bio-imaging.