writer：Jingya Zhao, Dian Zhong and Shaobing Zhou
keywords：Near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence
source：期刊
specific source：Journal of Materials Chemistry B, 2018, 6, 349
Issue time：2018年

Near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence imaging, which affords high imaging resolution owing to deep tissue

penetration of NIR photons, is an attractive imaging modality for both biomedical research and clinical

applications. To further improve the image contrast at increased tissue depth, recently much attention

has been focused on the development of NIR-I-to-NIR-II fluorescence imaging, which can remarkably

reduce the interference from photon absorption, scattering and tissue autofluorescence with excitation

in the 700–950 nm NIR-I window and emission in the 1000–1700 nm NIR-II window. In this review,

we highlight recently developed NIR-I-to-NIR-II fluorescent nanomaterials, including silver chalcogenide

quantum dots, single-walled carbon nanotubes and polymer nanoparticles. We discuss the advantages

of these nanomaterials as fluorescent tags in deep tissue imaging by comparing them with conventional

fluorophores, and then survey the implementation of NIR fluorescence imaging with these

nanomaterials, including instrumentation, data analysis and surface biofunctionalization of the

nanomaterials. Finally, we discuss recent applications of NIR-I-to-NIR-II fluorescent nanomaterials in the

biomedical imaging field, with an emphasis on how to use them to achieve simultaneous cancer

diagnosis and therapy.