Excitonic and Optical Transduction Mechanisms in Quantum Dot Sensors for Environmental Pollutant Detection
Abstract
The accelerating contamination of global ecosystems by heavy metal ions, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), microplastics and nanoplastics (MNPs), and emerging contaminants demands sensing technologies that are rapid, sensitive, selective, and field-deployable. Quantum dots (QDs) have emerged as leading candidates for environmental sensing; however, their performance is often interpreted empirically rather than through a unified understanding of the underlying excitonic physics. This narrative review presents a mechanistically integrated framework for QD-based environmental sensing, establishing the exciton, the spatially confined electron-hole quasiparticle, as the primary signal carrier in the most analytically powerful QD sensing modalities. A critical distinction is drawn between three categories of signal-generating processes: genuine excitonic transduction (photoinduced electron transfer, trap-state modulation, FRET, charge-transfer exciton formation, and binding energy modulation); non-excitonic optical phenomena, including the inner filter effect and light scattering, which are frequently misattributed as excitonic responses; and partially excitonic processes such as certain electrochemiluminescence pathways. Exciton fundamentals, confinement effects, and the influence of defects, dopants, and surface states are examined across carbon, chalcogenide, perovskite, and III-V QD families. A Defect-Exciton Energy Map is introduced as a rational design tool…
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