Copper chalcogenide nanocrystals (NCs) are promising candidates for biophotonic applications due to their tunable optical properties. Concrete methods to examine the relationship between their degradation and toxicity are necessary to enable development of biocompatible nanoconstructs. This study compares the degradation and toxicity of three compositions of micelle-coated copper chalcogenide NCs: the fluorescent semiconductor copper indium sulfide (CuInS 2 ), and the plasmonic semiconductors copper sulfide (Cu 2-x S) and chalcopyrite copper iron sulfide (CuFeS 2 ). We developed a quantitative degradation assay to assess ion release from these ultra-small nanocrystals, revealing that while all three particles biodegrade, CuInS 2 and CuFeS 2 undergo rapid degradation in artificial lysosomal fluid, leading to a burst release of indium and iron ions. In cellular toxicity assays, CuInS 2 exhibited significantly higher toxicity than Cu 2-x S and CuFeS 2 , primarily due to indium-induced necrosis. To mitigate this toxicity, an alternative surface-binding polymer coating was introduced, effectively reducing both the degradation rate and cytotoxicity of CuInS 2 . These findings highlight the influence of both nanocrystal composition and coating chemistry in designing biocompatible nanocrystals for biomedical applications, demonstrating that tuning of composition and degradation rate can be used to moderate nanoparticle toxicity.
Zhong et al. (Sat,) studied this question.
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