Application of Solanum lycopersicum (tomato) hairy roots for production of passivated CdS nanocrystals with quantum dot properties

• CdS nanocrystals with quantum dot properties were synthesised using hairy roots.
• Exposure to 100 μM Cd elicited nanoparticle synthesis without affecting root growth.
• The CdS nanocrystals were passivated and stabilised by phytochelatin peptides.
• Nanocrystals were 4–10 nm in size.
• Losses during recovery of nanoparticles from the biomass limited product yield.

Semiconductor quantum dot particles have a wide range of applications in medicine, bioassays, computing and photovoltaics. Biological synthesis is an attractive approach for mass production of quantum dots as cells have the capacity to passivate the particles with organic ligands. In this work, hairy roots of Solanum lycopersicum (tomato) were used to produce CdS nanoparticles with quantum dot properties. Treatment of the roots with 100 μM Cd during the mid-growth phase of batch culture elicited cellular responses for Cd detoxification without affecting root growth. A combination of freeze-drying and freeze-thawing of the roots was used to extract Cd from the biomass; anion-exchange chromatography was then applied to selectively remove metal–phytochelatin complexes. Size-fractionation using gel filtration allowed the recovery of phytochelatin-capped Cd- and inorganic sulphide-containing nanoparticles displaying the size and size-dependent optical/electronic properties of CdS quantum dots. At 4–10 nm in diameter, these particles fluoresced at wavelengths corresponding to blue-violet on the colour spectrum and exhibited a high level of photostability with prolonged excitation. Whereas 69% of the Cd extracted from the roots was associated with phytochelatin peptides, the maximum yield of CdS nanocrystals with quantum dot properties was 1.4% of the total Cd taken up into the biomass. This work demonstrates a new culture-based approach for the biosynthesis of metallo-organic semiconductor quantum dots using hairy roots.