Designer polymer-quantum dot architectures

Quantum dots (QDs) are nanocrystals made of semiconductors, which exhibit intriguing electronic transitions that resemble single atom behavior. Due to their unique, size-tunable optical and electronic properties, QDs are increasingly applied in biology, bioanalytics and optoelectronics. Many of these applications require a combination of the QDs with polymers. The development of methods to obtain well-defined polymer-QD hybrid materials with tunable optical properties is an active field of research. In this review we first describe progress in the synthesis and fabrication of polymer-QD hybrid materials of various architectures. In particular, embedding methods of semiconductor nanocrystals into bulk polymers, polymer thin films, micro- and nanospheres are presented. Direct surface modification of the nanocrystals with polymers using a number of strategies ranging from multivalent surface passivation to functionalized chain-end attachment, as well as layer-by-layer assembly are also reviewed. Finally, we provide examples for applications of QD/polymer materials in the fields of biodiagnostics, bioanalytics, photonics and optoelectronics.