Oil-soluble CuInS2/ZnS quantum dots and water transfer using temperature-sensitive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-Acrylamide-co-octadecyl acrylate) micelle

High-quality oil-soluble CuInS2/ZnS core/shell quantum dots (QDs) have been synthesized successfully using a non-hot-injection method. The as-prepared QDs exhibits tunable photoluminescence (PL) emission (PL peak, 550-800 nm) with a maximum PL quantum yield (QY) up to 80%. Furthermore, in this study, we explored further the water transfer of oil-soluble CuInS2/ZnS QDs by using temperature-sensitive poly (N-isopropylacrylamide-co-Acrylamide-co-Octadecylacrylate) (P(NIPA-co-AAm-co-ODA)) micelle. The QDs-loaded micelle not only shows favorable PL properties, but also maintains the initial sensitive thermal responsibility. These results confirm the promising potential of cadmium-free CuInS2/ZnS QDs as a fluorescent probe for the biological imaging of micelle.