Millimeter-Deep Detection of Single Shortwave-Infrared-Emitting Polymer Dots through Turbid Media
Fluorescence imaging at longer wavelengths, especially in the shortwave-infrared (SWIR: 1000–1700 nm) region, leads to a substantial decrease in light attenuation, scattering, and background autofluorescence, thereby enabling enhanced penetration into biological tissues. The limited selection of flu...
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Published in | Nano letters Vol. 20; no. 12; pp. 8803 - 8810 |
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Main Authors | , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
United States
American Chemical Society
09.12.2020
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Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Fluorescence imaging at longer wavelengths, especially in the shortwave-infrared (SWIR: 1000–1700 nm) region, leads to a substantial decrease in light attenuation, scattering, and background autofluorescence, thereby enabling enhanced penetration into biological tissues. The limited selection of fluorescent probes is a major bottleneck in SWIR fluorescence imaging. Here, we develop SWIR-emitting nanoparticles composed of donor–acceptor-type conjugated polymers. The bright SWIR fluorescence of the polymer dots (primarily attributable to their large absorption cross-section and high fluorescence saturation intensity (as high as 113 kW·cm–2)) enables the unprecedented detection of single particles as small as 14 nm through millimeter-thick turbid media. Unlike most SWIR-emitting nanomaterials, which have an excited-state lifetime in the range of microseconds to milliseconds, our polymer dots exhibit a subnanosecond excited-state lifetime. These characteristics enable us to demonstrate new time-gated single-particle imaging with a high signal-to-background ratio. These findings expand the range of potential applications of single-particle deep-tissue imaging. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 |
ISSN: | 1530-6984 1530-6992 |
DOI: | 10.1021/acs.nanolett.0c03675 |