Ultrabright AIEdots with tunable narrow emission for multiplexed fluorescence imaging

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Nanotechnology
• Biomedical Imaging

Background:

• Aggregation-induced emission (AIE) gen doped fluorescent nanodots (AIEdots) are promising fluorescent probes.
• Current AIEdots suffer from broad emission bandwidth, limiting multiplexed imaging capabilities.
• Need for AIEdots with narrow emission for enhanced resolution and multiplexing.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design and fabricate narrow emissive AIEdots (NE-AIEdots) with tunable wavelengths.
• To improve the performance of AIEdots for advanced fluorescence imaging applications.
• To demonstrate the utility of NE-AIEdots in in vivo multiplexed imaging.

Main Methods:

• Constructed a light-harvesting system with high energy transfer efficiency within AIEdots.
• Utilized efficient intra-particle energy transfer from AIEgens (light-harvesting antenna) to a narrow emissive fluorophore.
• Fabricated NE-AIEdots with controlled doping concentrations.

Main Results:

• Achieved NE-AIEdots with emission bandwidth (full-width-at-half-maximum) of 18–36 nm, 3–6.3 times narrower than traditional AIEdots.
• NE-AIEdots exhibited over 5-times higher single-particle brightness compared to commercial quantum dots.
• Successfully demonstrated multiplexed fluorescence imaging of lymph nodes in living mice.

Conclusions:

• Developed a strategy for fabricating high-performance NE-AIEdots with narrow emission and tunable wavelengths.
• NE-AIEdots surpass traditional AIEdots and commercial quantum dots in brightness and spectral properties.
• NE-AIEdots show significant potential for in vivo multiplexed labeling and clinical surgery applications.