Fundamentals and bioanalytical applications of functional quantum dots as electrogenerated emitters of chemiluminescence

Since the electrochemiluminescence (ECL) of quantum dots (QDs) of silicon was reported by Science in 2002, lots of QDs (e.g., II-VI, III-V and IV-VI) with different sizes and shapes have been used as ECL emitters for bioanalysis. Especially, QDs functionalized with multitudinous biomolecules offer excellent ECL signal-transduction platforms for designing a new generation of biosensing devices. In this article, we focus on recent advances in the ECL principles of functional QDs, and their bioanalytical applications in DNA analysis, immunoassay, cytosensing and detection of other biological molecules. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.