Fig. 3: Localization of the nanosensor in living plants.

a Schematic of the infiltration process for AIE₁₀₃₅NPs@Mo/Cu-POM. This schematic illustrates the infiltration of AIE₁₀₃₅NPs@Mo/Cu-POM through stomatal pores and its distribution within the plant tissues. Created in BioRender. Hu, H. (2025) https://BioRender.com/c2p1p6j. b Confocal fluorescence micrographs of AIE₅₂₀ dye-swelled PS nanoparticles (200 nm in diameter, 0.1 mg mL^–1) in the lettuce leaf tissue. The nanoparticles (green) were localized alongside the cell walls, intercellular spaces, and stomatal pores. Chlorophyll autofluorescence is displayed in red. Confocal fluorescence micrographs were obtained from three independent biological replicates and were presented as representative images. c NIR fluorescence micrographs and brightfield merged images of a lettuce leaf infiltrated with AIE₁₀₃₅NPs (0.1 mg mL^–1) at ×20 and ×50 magnifications. All the NIR fluorescence micrographs were obtained with an 808 nm laser at 2 mW. NIR images are representative of at least three independent experiments. d NIR fluorescence micrographs and three-dimensional surface plots of the AIE₁₀₃₅NPs-embedded lettuce leaf over 120 min. Filter: 900 nm long-pass filter. Scale bar: 200 μm. e NIR fluorescence localization of AIE₁₀₃₅NPs in a living plant for 6 h. NIR fluorescence images were obtained with an 808 nm laser at 15 mW using a shutter. Scale bar: 5 mm. f NIR fluorescence intensity profiles along the white dashed line in (e) over 6 h and normalized signal intensity change of AIE₁₀₃₅NPs in the lettuce leaf (red dots).