Fluorescent cellulose nanocrystals with responsiveness to solvent polarity and ionic strength

[Display omitted] •Fluorescent cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) labeled with 1, 8-naphthalimide dye.•High dye content via covalent carboxyl attachment.•High fluorescence responsiveness to solvent polarity and ion strength.•Aggregation-enhanced emission based on sensitive colloidal stability of CNC. Fluorescent and stimuli-responsive cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) were prepared via covalent conjugation of a 1, 8-naphthalimide dye onto TEMPO-oxided CNC. The structural and morphological integrity of CNC were essentially not affected by the functionalizaiton, in spite of their relatively high dye content of 0.1 ± 0.01 mmol g−1. The dye-labeled CNC show much higher fluorescence sensitivity to solvent polarity and ion concentration compared to pure dye. The fluorescence emission of dye-labeled CNC is greatly enhanced when reducing solvent permittivity or increasing ionic strength. The magnified fluorescence responsiveness is attributed to the effect of aggregation-enhanced emission (AEE) based on the sensitive colloidal stability of CNC to medium conditions. Under high ionic strength and low solvent permittivity, the compressed double layers of CNC lead to space restriction and steric hindrance of dye groups, which limit the process of nonradiative transition. The aggregation of CNC triggered by the change of ion concentration was supported by dynamic light scattering (DLS) particle sizes and Zeta potential values. Owing to the special AEE effect, the fluorescent CNC are promising sensing nanomaterials for wide applications.