The Rise of AIE-Peptide Systems: Design Principles, Multifunctional Applications, and Future Perspectives

Peptides exhibit exceptional potential in revolutionizing sensors, diagnostics, and therapeutics due to their multifunctionality, target specificity, self-assembly capacity, microenvironment responsiveness, and inherent biocompatibility. Nevertheless, conventional peptide nanomaterials are constrained by limitations in real-time monitoring and comprehensive disease management. Aggregation-induced emission luminogens (AIEgens) address the critical aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ) problem of traditional fluorophores by demonstrating intensified fluorescence emission and amplified photodynamic/photothermal performance in aggregated states. The strategic coupling of AIEgens with peptides (AIE-peptide) creates a synergistic "1+1>2" platform, enabling transformative applications in sensing, bioimaging, and theranostics. This review systematically evaluates innovative design strategies and emerging applications of AIE-peptide materials through molecular engineering perspectives. First, modular design principles are elucidated, followed by critical assessments of multidimensional breakthroughs in sensing, imaging, theranostics, and the synthesis of novel materials. Furthermore, current challenges and future directions for optimizing AIE-peptide architectures and translational implementations are comprehensively discussed. Given the nascent stage and rapid development of this field, continued progress is expected to address existing limitations and broaden practical implementations across diverse disciplines. This review aims to stimulate scientific discourse and inspire innovative frameworks for developing next-generation AIE-peptide materials with heightened biomedical efficacy and clinical impact.