Silica-encapsulated Gd3+-aggregated gold nanoclusters for in vitro and in vivo multimodal cancer imaging.

Gd(3+)-aggregated gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) encapsulated by silica shell (Gd(3+)-A-AuNCs@SiO2NPs) were strategically designed and prepared. The as-prepared nanoparticles exhibit aggregation-enhanced fluorescence (AEF), with an intensity that is up to 3.8 times that of discrete AuNCs. The clusters served as novel nanoprobes for in vitro and in vivo multimodal (fluorescence, magnetic resonance, and computed X-ray tomography) cancer imaging.