Polymer-coated quantum dots.

Quantum Dots (QDs) are semiconductor nanocrystals with distinct photophysical properties finding applications in biology, biosensing, and optoelectronics. Polymeric coatings of QDs are used primarily to provide long-term colloidal stability to QDs dispersed in solutions and also as a source of additional functional groups used in further chemical derivatization of the nanoparticles. We review the coating methods, including multidentate and amphiphilic polymeric coatings, and grafting-to and grafting-from approaches. We highlight the most commonly used polymers and discuss how their chemical structure influences the coating properties.