Solvothermal exfoliation assisted synthesis of transition metal dichalcogenide based tungsten disulphide quantum dots (WS2 QDs) and cellular QD-bio interaction in LN-229 human glioblastoma cells

• Published in: Materials science & engineering. B, Solid-state materials for advanced technology Vol. 284; p. 115907
• Main Authors: Surendranath, Anju, Mohanan, P.V.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Lausanne Elsevier B.V 01.10.2022; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Biocompatibility; Biological effects; Chalcogenides; Characterisation; Cytotoxicity; Exfoliation; Fluorescence; Glioblastoma cells; Graphene; In vivo methods and tests; Optoelectronics; Photoluminescence; Quantum confinement; Quantum dots; Synthesis; Toxicity; Transition metal compounds; Tungsten disulfide; Tungsten disulphide Quantum dots; Cytotoxicity; Tungsten disulphide Quantum dots; Glioblastoma cells; Synthesis; Characterisation; Photoluminescence
• ISSN: 0921-5107; 1873-4944
• DOI: 10.1016/j.mseb.2022.115907

•WS2 QDs of bright cyan-green fluorescence was synthesized by solvothermal exfoliation strategy.•QDs showed excellent water dispersibility, typical emission at 500 nm, spherical morphology and 3–4 nm dot size.•XRD depicted the effective exfoliation and FTIR, XPS confirmed the chemical composition and elemental oxidation.•MTT assay in LN-229 human glioblastoma cells under varying range of concentration showed the extreme low cytotoxicity. WS2 is a typical TMDC candidate which marked a great sensation due to its similar characteristics with that of graphene. In the present study, highly cyan green emissive and excellent water dispersive WS2 QDs were prepared via top down strategy by solvothermal liquid exfoliation method using NMP solvent. The optical and physico-chemical characteristics of WS2 QDs was investigated systematically. The resultant WS2 QDs exhibit stable fluorescence (λmax = 500 nm), spherical morphology with a uniform thickness of ∼4nm. Moreover, the synthesised QDs exhibit a size-dependant photoluminescence in the wide visible region. Under 365 nm longer wavelength UV illumination, bright cyan green fluorescence was visualised due to excellent quantum confinement effect. XRD analysis revealed the efficient exfoliation potential of the material via this synthesis route. The as synthesised WS2 QDs exhibits excellent properties such as stable aqueous dispersion, extreme low cytotoxicity as well as photoluminescent properties, which makes them suitable candidates for optoelectronic and biological applications. Cellular interaction mediated cytotoxic response was evaluated by MTT assay in LN-229 human glioblastoma cells with a wide ranging concentrations and confirmed the non-destructive status of these QDs in biological subjects. The results from the study also confirm the potential of WS2 QDs to be used as probes for real-time optical cellular imaging and further in vivo trajectory imaging studies.