LAUSR.org creates dashboard-style pages of related content for over 1.5 million academic articles. Sign Up to like articles & get recommendations!

Lighting Nanoscale Insulators by Steric Restriction-Induced Emissions.

Photo by doctor1980 from unsplash

Luminescence detection is a sensitive approach for high-resolution visualization of nano-/macrosized objects, but it is challenging to light invisible insulators owing to their inert surfaces. Herein, we discovered a steric… Click to show full abstract

Luminescence detection is a sensitive approach for high-resolution visualization of nano-/macrosized objects, but it is challenging to light invisible insulators owing to their inert surfaces. Herein, we discovered a steric restriction-induced emission (SRIE) effect on nanoscale insulators to light them by fluorogenic probes. The SRIE effect enabled us to specifically differentiate a representative nanoscale insulator, boron nitride (BN) nanosheets, from 18 tested nanomaterials with 420-fold increments of photoluminescence intensity and displayed 3 orders of magnitude linearity for quantitative analysis as well as single-particle level detection. Molecular dynamics simulations indicated that the hydrophobic and electron-resistant surfaces of BN nanosheets restricted intramolecular motions of fluorogenic molecules for blockage of the nonradiative path of excited electrons and activation of the radiative electron transition. Moreover, the lighted BN nanosheets could be successfully visualized in complex cellular and tissue biocontexts. Overall, the SRIE effect will inspire more analytical techniques for inert materials.

Keywords: srie effect; lighting nanoscale; steric restriction; restriction induced; nanoscale insulators

Journal Title: Analytical chemistry
Year Published: 2022

Link to full text (if available)


Share on Social Media:                               Sign Up to like & get
recommendations!

Related content

More Information              News              Social Media              Video              Recommended



                Click one of the above tabs to view related content.