Belousov–Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction–diffusion medium, considered as a continuously distributed information processing system operating in a highly parallel mode, can be used to process images. A sol–gel method is used to prepare the light-sensitive BZ reaction–diffusion medium, which forms on a circuit board containing 8 × 8 channel matrix platinum electrodes. This medium ensures both reaction running and potential detecting. BZ reaction is excited by projecting an image (input-image) on the light-sensitive BZ medium, followed by the chemical waves’ (output-image) occurrence in the BZ medium. The imaging process in BZ medium is an evolutional one, including image inversion and boundary-enhancement function. Redox potentials distributed in the BZ medium reflect the evolution of the output-image and are detected synchronizing with the image evolution process. The output-image is reconstructed in the form of the distribution of redox potentials. The light-sensitive BZ medium and the potential detecting equipment can be developed as an intelligent image sensor. This system enabled us to open a new way to construct image sensors.

CdTe quantum dots capped by short-chain thioglycolic acid (TGA) are prepared in aqueous solution. In this study, we report the effect of adenosine 5′ triphosphate (ATP), folic acid and l-cysteine on the photoluminescence intensity of CdTe nanocrystals in pH 7.4 Tris-HCl buffer solutions. The luminescence of CdTe nanocrystals is quenched in the presence of ATP or folic acid, which is related to their concentrations. The relationship between the luminescence intensity of CdTe nanocrystals and the concentration of ATP or folic acid is described by the Stern–Volmer equation. The emission intensity of CdTe nanocrystals is enhanced in the presence of l-cysteine. The relationship between the emission intensity of CdTe nanocrystals and the concentration of l-cysteine agrees with Langmuir binding isotherm equation in the range of 5 × 10−6 to 2 × 10−4 mol/L. These results show that CdTe nanocrystals can be potentially used as luminescence probes for detecting ATP, folic acid and l-cysteine.