about our research

Nanomedicine

Radiotherapy has been considered as part of the treatment regime following tumor surgical removal. We designed a series of Au clusters CT contrast agent, such as Au10, Au25, Au33 which can achieve ultrahigh tumor specificity (Adv. Mater., 26 (2014) 4565, Adv. Healthcare Mater., 3 (2014) 133), highly efficient cancer radiation (Sci. Rep., 5 (2015) 8669, Biomaterials, 33 (2012) 4628) and renal clearance and low toxicity (Biomaterials, 33 (2012) 6408, Small, 11 (2015)1683). We proposed that radiation physics combined with molecular engineering can be used as a designed strategy for screening high-performance radioprotective biomaterials during radiation therapy (ACS Nano, 10 (2016) 4511, ACS Biomat. Sci. Eng., 3(2017)460).

Fluorescence Imaging in Second Near Infrared Window

Compared with NIR-I imaging (750-900 nm), deep tissue fluorescence imaging in the second near infrared window (1,000-1,700) is useful for non-invasive in vivo imaging at sub-centimeter tissue depth with sub-10 micron spatial resolution due to reduced photon scattering by biological tissues at longer wavelengths. We proposed to use a large conjugated system as electron donor for enhanced fluorescence. We designed the bright fluorescence molecule in second near infrared window (1100-1700 nm), and achieved high resolution tumor imaging (Adv. Mater. 28, 2016), and the traumatic brain injury (Adv. Mater. 27, 2017).

Fundamental Physics of Ultrasmall System

We focus on fluorescence enhancement in NIR-I (750-900 nm) and NIR-II window (1100-1700 nm) and the physical nature of ultrasmall system, such as metal clusters, complex and small molecule via experimental methods as well as density functional therapy. We employ the band gap engineering and doping methods to modulate the band gap and optical absorption (Appl. Phys. Lett., 93 (2008) 012103；J. Appl. Phys., 103 (2008) 063721.).The works provide a new route for development of highly bright fluorescence materials.