State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, 122 Luoshi Road, Wuhan 430070, China
Xiaobing Gao
General Hospital of Central Theater Command, Wuhan 430070, China
Wenrui Chen
State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, 122 Luoshi Road, Wuhan 430070, China
Meng He
School of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Life Science, Wuhan University of Technology, 122 Luoshi Road, Wuhan 430070, China
Yao Yu
School of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Life Science, Wuhan University of Technology, 122 Luoshi Road, Wuhan 430070, China
Guanbin Gao
State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, 122 Luoshi Road, Wuhan 430070, China; Corresponding author
Taolei Sun
State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, 122 Luoshi Road, Wuhan 430070, China; School of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Life Science, Wuhan University of Technology, 122 Luoshi Road, Wuhan 430070, China; Corresponding author
Summary: Gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) have become a promising material for bioimaging detection because of their tunable photoluminescence, large Stokes shift, low photobleaching, and good biocompatibility. Last decade, great efforts have been made to develop AuNCs for enhanced imaging contrast and multimodal imaging. Herein, an updated overview of recent advances in AuNCs was present for visible fluorescence (FL) imaging, near-infrared fluorescence (NIR-FL) imaging, two-photon near-infrared fluorescence (TP-NIR-FL) imaging, computed tomography (CT) imaging, positron emission tomography (PET) imaging, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and photoacoustic (PA) imaging. The justification of AuNCs applied in bioimaging mentioned above applications was discussed, the performance location of different AuNCs were summarized and highlighted in an unified parameter coordinate system of corresponding bioimaging, and the current challenges, research frontiers, and prospects of AuNCs in bioimaging were discussed. This review will bring new insights into the future development of AuNCs in bio-diagnostic imaging.
