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Gold Nanostars-AIE Theranostic Nanodots with Enhanced Fluorescence and Photosensitization Towards Effective Image-Guided Photodynamic Therapy

Lookup NU author(s): Professor Yen Nee Tan

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).

Abstract

Dual-functional aggregation-induced photosensitizers (AIE-PSs) with singlet oxygen generation (SOG) ability and bright fluorescence in aggregated state have received much attention in image-guided photodynamic therapy (PDT). However, designing an AIE-PS with both high SOG and intense fluorescence via molecular design is still challenging. In this work, we report a new nanohybrid consisting of gold nanostar (AuNS) and AIE-PS dots with enhanced fluorescence and photosensitization for theranostic applications. The spectral overlap between the extinction of AuNS and fluorescence emission of AIE-PS dots (665 nm) is carefully selected using five different AuNSs with distinct localized surface plasmon (LSPR) peaks. Results show that all the AuNSs can enhance the ¹O₂ production of AIE-PS dots, among which the AuNS with LSPR peak at 585 nm exhibited the highest ¹O₂ enhancement factor of 15-fold with increased fluorescence brightness. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest enhancement factor reported for the metal-enhanced singlet oxygen generation systems. The Au585@AIE-PS nanodots were applied for simultaneous fluorescence imaging and photodynamic ablation of HeLa cancer cells with strongly enhanced PDT efficiency in vitro. This study provides a better understanding of the metal-enhanced AIE-PS nanohybrid systems, opening up new avenue towards advanced image-guided PDT with greatly improved efficacy.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Tavakkoli Yaraki M, Wu M, Middha E, Wu W, Daqiqeh Rezaei S, Liu B, Tan YN

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Nano-Micro Letters

Year: 2021

Volume: 13

Issue: 1

Pages: 1-15

Online publication date: 16/01/2021

Acceptance date: 08/12/2020

Date deposited: 29/06/2021

ISSN (print): 2311-6706

ISSN (electronic): 2150-5551

Publisher: Springer

URL: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-020-00583-2

DOI: 10.1007/s40820-020-00583-2

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