We have strong interest in the design and synthesis of organic functional materials with optimized structure-property relationships for different applications. By fine-tuning their radiative and non-radiative decay pathways, we can produce materials with either high fluorescence or good photothermal conversion efficiencies. Further adjusting the energy gap between the lowest triplet state and the lowest singlet state can facilitate intersystem crossing, which yields photosensitizers or phosphorescent molecules. Of particular interest are the molecules with aggregation-induced emission (AIE), which show negligible fluorescence as molecular species, but can be induced to show high fluorescence in the aggregate state. AIE molecules can be further designed to show strong photosensitization, or even yield room temperature phosphorescence. Our recent discovery of the doping system is one of the primary focus for realizing ultralong phosphorescence.

We also work on multidisciplinary collaborative projects to find practical solutions for disease diagnosis and treatment, such as the development of brain tumor-specific multimodal imaging agents for tumor margin identification and image-guided surgery. We also develop organic molecules with great photosensitization for one-photon or multi-photon imaging and photodynamic therapy, large NIR absorption and efficient light-to-heat conversion ability for photoacoustic imaging and photothermal therapy. We design reactivity-based probes to differentiate various chemical species possessing similar size and shape in biological systems. We also explore reliable strategies to identify and kill infection-causing bacterial strains using metabolic biomolecular labelling technology.