A bioluminescence energy transfer (BRET) nanosystem having semiconductive quantum rods (QRs) bound by firefly luciferase Photinus pyralis (Ppy) for improved conversion of chemical energy to light, such as in solid-state lighting, near-infrared imaging systems, and in vivo infrared imaging. The nanosystems are formed by synthesizing CdSe/CdS or CdSe/CdS/ZnS quantum rods, rendering the dots hydrophilic and colloidially stable with a facile His-capping, incubating with a Ppy variant (PpyGRTS) at increasing loading ratios, and adding an excess of the luciferin (LH2) substrate to the PpyGRTS-QRs.
