Surface motif sensitivity of dual emissive gold nanoclusters for robust ratiometric intracellular imaging

Here, we report novel dual-emissive gold nanoclusters (d-Au NCs) that have two distinctive emissions (420 and 630 nm) under a single wavelength excitation. The two-stage formation mechanism evidences their sensitive response to valine and trivalent chromium ions (Cr³⁺) in completely different spectral ratiometric modes in living cells with high contrast to successfully avoid signal fluctuations.