Synthesis strategies and biomedical applications for doped inorganic semiconductor nanocrystals

Doped semiconductor materials with various properties are useful for improving early diagnostics and therapies in medical research, which is essential for advanced medical techniques and reducing mortality rates. The emerging research on nanocrystals doped with impurities is important. These dopants can directly affect electron transport in semiconductors, tune the optical properties of nanoscale materials in desirable ways, and bring some specific characteristics to the hosts. In this review, we first discuss the factors that need to be considered to systematically control generation of these doped semiconductor materials and then describe a variety of doped materials and typical synthesis approaches and techniques. Finally, current biomedical applications and future outlook are summarized and discussed.