Stability enhancement of fluorophores for lighting up practical application in bioimaging

The practical application of organic fluorophores in bioimaging is severely limited due to their generally poor stability. In this Highlight, we emphasize several representative strategies including nanoparticle-encapsulating dyes, dye-doped nanoparticles and molecular engineering for stabilizing fluorophores, especially with a breakthrough in photostability for visualizing disease therapy, tumor and biological processes.