Metal nanoclusters (NCs) hold great potential as novel luminescent nanomaterials in many applications, while the synthesis of highly luminescent metal NCs still remains challenging. In this work, we report self-assembling peptides as a novel bioinspired scaffold capable of significantly enhancing the luminescence efficiency of gold nanoclusters (AuNCs). The resulting AuNCs capped with motif-designed peptides can self-assemble to form nanofiber structures, in which the luminescence of AuNCs is enhanced nearly 70-fold, with 21.3% quantum yield. The underlying mechanism responsible for the luminescence enhancement has been thoroughly investigated by the combined use of different spectroscopic and microscopic techniques. The resultant highly luminescent AuNC-decorated peptide nanofibers exhibit physicochemical properties that are advantageous for biological applications. As a proof of concept, we demonstrate the use of these nanostructure as fluorescent thermometers and for imaging living cells, both showing very promising results.

中文翻译：

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超分子自组装生物启发的发光金纳米簇嵌入肽纳米纤维的温度传感和细胞成像合成。

金属纳米团簇（NCs）在许多应用中具有作为新型发光纳米材料的巨大潜力，而高发光金属NCs的合成仍然具有挑战性。在这项工作中，我们报告自组装肽作为一种新型的生物启发支架，能够显着增强金纳米簇（AuNCs）的发光效率。得到的被基序设计的肽覆盖的AuNCs可以自组装形成纳米纤维结构，其中AuNCs的发光增强了近70倍，量子产率为21.3％。通过结合使用不同的光谱和显微镜技术，已经彻底研究了负责增强发光的潜在机制。所得的高度发光的AuNC修饰的肽纳米纤维表现出对生物应用有利的物理化学性质。作为概念的证明，我们演示了将这些纳米结构用作荧光温度计和对活细胞成像的方法，两者均显示出非常有希望的结果。