Bacteria are everywhere and pose severe threats to human health and safety. The rapid classification and sensitive detection of bacteria are vital steps of bacterial community research and the treatment of infection. Herein, we developed optical property–superior and heavy metal–free ZnCuInSe quantum dots (QDs) for achieving rapid discrimination of Gram-positive/Gram-negative bacteria by the naked eye; driven by the structural differences of bacteria, ZnCuInSe QDs are effective in binding to Gram-positive bacteria, especially Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), in comparison with Gram-negative bacteria and give discernable color viewed by the naked eye. Meanwhile, based on its distinctive fluorescence response, the accurate quantification of S. aureus was investigated with a photoluminescence system in the concentration ranges of 1 × 10³ to 1 × 10¹¹ CFU/mL, with a limit of detection of 1 × 10³ CFU/mL. Furthermore, we demonstrated the feasibility of ZnCuInSe QDs as a fluorescence probe for imaging S. aureus. This simple strategy based on ZnCuInSe QDs provides an unprecedented step for rapid and effective bacterial discrimination, detection, and imaging.

细菌无处不在，对人类健康和安全构成严重威胁。细菌的快速分类和灵敏检测是细菌群落研究和感染治疗的重要步骤。本文中，我们开发了光学性能优越且不含重金属的ZnCuInSe量子点（QD），以通过肉眼快速识别革兰氏阳性/革兰氏阴性细菌。由细菌的结构差异驱动，ZnCuInSe量子点可有效地结合于革兰氏阳性菌，尤其是金黄色葡萄球菌（小号。金黄色葡萄球菌与革兰氏阴性菌的比较），并给通过肉眼观察可辨别的颜色。同时，基于其独特的荧光响应，可以准确定量S。使用光致发光系统在1×10 ³至1×10 ¹¹  CFU / mL的浓度范围内对金黄色葡萄球菌进行了研究，检出限为1×10 ³  CFU / mL。此外，我们证明了ZnCuInSe量子点作为荧光探针成像S的可行性。金黄色的。这种基于ZnCuInSe量子点的简单策略为快速，有效的细菌识别，检测和成像提供了前所未有的步骤。