Fabricating a fluorescence resonance energy transfer system with AIE molecular for sensitive detection of Cu(II) ions

The aggregation-induced emission (AIE) luminogens has exhibited strong potential in fabricating the fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) system. In this paper one efficient FRET system was fabricated in aqueous solution based on an AIE molecular (T) and Nile Red (NiR) dyes: T acts as the energy donor and NiR acts as the energy acceptor with a ratio of 250:1. The energy-transfer efficiency from the donor to acceptor is 82.52%, and the antenna effect is 24.9. Base on this data, a very low detection limit for Cu²⁺ was calculated to be 35.5 pM. This method displays penitential application on fluorescence probe for small ions or molecular detection by light-harvesting system based on a simple AIE donor under physiological conditions.