Fig. 3

Photostability and ROS generation studies of TB@PMP micelles in living cells. a Signal loss (%) of fluorescent emission of TB@PMP and Ce6@PMP micelles with the increasing number of bleaching. Inset: corresponding CLSM images of HeLa cells. Excitation wavelength: 488 nm for TB@PMP and Ce6@PMP, 2.05 μs per pixel, irradiation time: 5.03 s bleaching⁻¹; bleaching wavelength: 488 nm; bleaching intensity: 50%. b Signal loss (%) of fluorescent emission of TB@PMP and Ce6@PMP micelles with increasing number of scans. Inset: corresponding CLSM images of HeLa cells. Excitation wavelength: 488 nm for TB@PMP and Ce6@PMP, 4.01 μs per pixel, irradiation time: 40.27 s scan⁻¹; scan wavelength: 488 nm; scan intensity: 8.6%. c, d Detection of intracellular ROS production by DCFH-DA in HeLa cells after incubation with TB@PM micelles and TB@PMP micelles, respectively, with or without light irradiation (white light, 100 mW cm⁻², 3 min). Scale bar: 20 μm