Quantum Dots for Pathogenic Bacterial Monitoring and Combating

Antibiotic resistance and pathogenic bacterial monitoring are two main challenges in clinical diagnostics and treatment of bacteria. To conquer those issues, many new materials and novel technologies are explored. Among them, quantum dots (QDs) are regarded as not only powerful bacteriostatic agents, but also bacterial monitoring probes due to their excellent photoluminescence properties, tunable multiwavelength luminescence, and capability in reactive oxygen species-generation. While, till now, no systematic and critical review has been published in this related research area. This review paper aims at summarization and review of the monitoring and combating of pathogenic bacteria utilizing QDs (mainly in the recent five years), in view of their classification, modification, mechanism, and application. Semiconductor QDs, transmission-metal-based QDs, carbon-based QDs, and silicon-based QDs are mainly covered in this review. Moreover, a thorough discussion on the possible interaction mechanism between bacteria and QDs is given, which will contribute to the designing of QDs for novel and high-efficient bacterial monitoring and combating applications. Eventually, the current challenges and the future research focus of QDs in bacterial monitoring and combating are proposed. This review will be of significance for the related field to understand the designing principles of QDs for pathogenic bacterial monitoring and combating applications.