Highly luminescent gold nanocluster assemblies for bioimaging in living organisms

Fluorescent gold nanoclusters are promising nanomaterials for biomedical applications but confronted with low emission efficiency and poor surface functionality. Herein, three kinds of highly luminescent and functionalized gold nanocluster nano-assembled structures were fabricated by poly- l -arginine surface engineering for luminescence improvement. The assembly is employed for imaging the glutathione molecule in cells and living organisms with low background and high sensitivity. Fabrication of highly luminescent and functionalized gold cluster nano-assembled structures for low-background and high-sensitivity sensing and imaging of the GSH molecule in cells and living organisms.