Quantum Dots for Theranostic Applications

Over the last decade, quantum dots (QDs), as nanomedicine, are gaining huge importance for their theranostic applications, i.e., in the field of diagnosis and therapeutics. QDs can be explained as colloidal, highly fluorescent, and photostable semiconductor-based nanomaterials exhibiting outstanding physical, chemical, optical, and electronic properties and biocompatibility with living systems, highlighting them as promising candidates for an extensive range of biomedical applications, like live cell imaging, and in vivo as well as in vitro imaging, traceable drug delivery, fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS), photodynamic therapy, and therapeutic applications (gene delivery for gene therapy). Moreover, their surface properties can also be modified by employing multifarious methods like ligand exchange, surface salinization, and ligand capping or encapsulation. Despite these dazzling properties, the clinical applications of QDs are well underestimated so far. In the current book chapter, we explain different types of QDs, their characteristic properties, and their major biomedical applications in the field of diagnosis and therapy. Furthermore, a brief focus on the prospective directions of research in QDs is also discussed.