Issue 41, 2019

Recent advances of AIE dots in NIR imaging and phototherapy

Abstract

Nanomaterials are indispensable tools for imaging and therapy. Organic dots with aggregation-induced emission characteristics (AIE dots) have emerged as a new nanolight for their ultra-brightness, excellent photostability and biocompatibility. Due to the rotor structures, most of the reported AIE luminogens show short wavelength absorption and emission, an intrinsic disadvantage for their biomedical applications. Recently, more exciting examples reveal that properly designed AIE dots can easily reach NIR emission, excitable by near-infrared (NIR) light via multiphoton processes, which also have great potentials in photoacoustic imaging (PAI) and phototherapy. In this review, we summarize the recent advances of AIE nanomaterials for NIR fluorescence imaging, PAI, image-guided photodynamic and photothermal therapy (PDT and PTT). We highlight various strategies to improve the energy conversion efficiency of AIE dots through controlling different energy decay pathways. With this review, we hope to encourage more precise design of organic nanomaterials for biomedical applications.

Graphical abstract: Recent advances of AIE dots in NIR imaging and phototherapy

Article information

Article type
Minireview
Submitted
15 Jul 2019
Accepted
05 Sep 2019
First published
21 Sep 2019

Nanoscale, 2019,11, 19241-19250

Recent advances of AIE dots in NIR imaging and phototherapy

R. Zhang, Y. Duan and B. Liu, Nanoscale, 2019, 11, 19241 DOI: 10.1039/C9NR06012J

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