Nanographenes: Ultrastable, Switchable, and Bright Probes for Super-Resolution Microscopy

Abstract

Super-resolution fluorescence microscopy has enabled important breakthroughs in biology and materials science. Implementations such as single-molecule localization microscopy (SMLM) and minimal emission fluxes (MINFLUX) microscopy in the localization mode exploit fluorophores that blink, i.e., switch on and off, stochastically. Here, we introduce nanographenes, namely large polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons that can also be regarded as atomically precise graphene quantum dots, as a new class of fluorophores for super-resolution fluorescence microscopy. Nanographenes exhibit outstanding photophysical properties: intrinsic blinking even in air, excellent fluorescence recovery, and stability over several months. As a proof of concept for super-resolution applications, we use nanographenes in SMLM to generate 3D super-resolution images of silica nanocracks. Our findings open the door for the widespread application of nanographenes in super-resolution fluorescence microscopy.