Tunable photoluminescence of water-soluble AgInZnS-graphene oxide (GO) nanocomposites and their application in-vivo bioimaging

Water-soluble quantum dots (QDs) with biocompatibility and photostability show a potential application in biomedical optical imaging. Herein, we reported biocompatible, photostable and eco-friendly AgInZnS-graphene oxide (AIZS-GO) nanocomposites with tunable emissions by transferring hydrophobic AIZS QDs on water-soluble GO via a mini-emulsion method. The as-prepared hydrophilic AIZS-GO nanocomposites still exhibited bright and stable photoluminescence (PL) even after phase-transfer by using GO, moreover, their PL emission could be well tuned widely in the range of 530 nm-680 nm by controlling the composition of Zn. In addition, AIZS-GO nanocomposites could be used for imaging of SK-BR-3 breast cancer cells via intratumoral administration. MTT assay result proved that these nanocomposites demonstrated comparable low cytotoxicity due to the absence of highly toxic cadmium. The in vivo imaging experiments of mice indicated that the prepared red emitted AIZS-GO nanocomposites could be used for the cancer cell and organ of mice labeling, which shows potential applications in bioimaging and related fields such as phototherapy and imaging. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.