Semiconducting polymer dots as near-infrared fluorescent probes for bioimaging and sensing

In recent years, semiconducting polymer dots (Pdots) have emerged as a new type of ultrabright fluorescent probes, which have been proved to be very useful for biomedical imaging. Pdots possess several exceptional advantages including high fluorescence brightness, fast radiative rate, excellent photostability, and negligible cytotoxicity. Among these new types of Pdots, the near-infrared (NIR) fluorescent Pdots appear to be the most urgent and important owing to their promising deep-tissue imaging in the clinic. This mini-review highlights the recent progress in the design of NIR-emitting Pdots and their biomedical applications both in vitro and in vivo.