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Vol. 13 (2021)

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

https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-020-00583-2
Mohammad Tavakkoli Yaraki
Institute of Materials Research and Engineering, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore 138634, Singapore
Min Wu
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, National University of Singapore, 4 Engineering Drive 4, Singapore 117585, Singapore
Eshu Middha
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, National University of Singapore, 4 Engineering Drive 4, Singapore 117585, Singapore
Wenbo Wu
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, National University of Singapore, 4 Engineering Drive 4, Singapore 117585, Singapore
Soroosh Daqiqeh Rezaei
Institute of Materials Research and Engineering, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore 138634, Singapore
Bin Liu
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, National University of Singapore, 4 Engineering Drive 4, Singapore 117585, Singapore
Yen Nee Tan
Institute of Materials Research and Engineering, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore 138634, Singapore

Corresponding Author: Yen Nee Tan

yennee.tan@newcastle.ac.uk

Nano-Micro Letters, Vol. 13 (2021), Article Number: 58

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.


Highlights:


1 Development of Au nanostar@AIE nanodots photosensitizers for theranostic applications.
2 Achieving excellent metal-enhanced fluorescence and singlet oxygen generation efficiency simultaneously.
3 Mechanism study of the role of FRET on metal-enhanced singlet oxygen generation.

Keywords

Plasmon enhancement Photosensitizer Aggregation-induced emission Fluorescence imaging Theranostics
Yaraki, Mohammad Tavakkoli, Min Wu, Eshu Middha, Wenbo Wu, Soroosh Daqiqeh Rezaei, Bin Liu, and Yen Nee Tan. 2021. “Gold Nanostars-AIE Theranostic Nanodots With Enhanced Fluorescence and Photosensitization Towards Effective Image-Guided Photodynamic Therapy”. Nano-Micro Letters 13 (January):58. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-020-00583-2.
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