Chemiluminescence resonance energy transfer in the luminol-CdTe quantum dots conjugates

The luminol-CdTe quantum dots (QDs) conjugates were prepared through the reaction between -NH2 and -COOH. The resonance energy transfer between chemiluminescence donor (luminol-H2O2 system) and quantum dots (QDs, with different emission peaks) acceptors (CRET) was investigated. The luminescence of QDs in luminol-QDs conjugates in the process of CRET was influenced by the molar ratio of luminol/QDs. It could reach higher luminescence intensity while the luminol/QDs value was 1/1. Quantum yield of QDs and overlapping areas between the emission spectrum of luminol and adsorption spectrum of QDs played important roles in the CRET efficiency of luminol-QDs conjugates. The higher CRET efficiency (21.2%) was observed when the 540 nm QDs were used as acceptors. This work will offer helpful knowledge for the CRET studies based on QDs.