Fighting aggregation-caused quenching and leakage of dyes in fluorescent polymer nanoparticles: universal role of counterion

Dye‐loaded polymer nanoparticles (NPs) emerge as a powerful tool for bioimaging applications, owing to their exceptional brightness and controlled small size. However, aggregation‐caused quenching (ACQ) and leakage of dyes at high loading remain important challenges of these nanomaterials. The use of bulky hydrophobic counterions has been recently proposed as an effective approach to minimize ACQ and dye leakage, but the role of counterion structure is still poorly understood. Here, a systematic study based on ten counterions, ranging from small hydrophilic perchlorate up to large hydrophobic tetraphenylborate derivatives, reveals how counterion nature can control encapsulation and emission of a cationic dye (rhodamine B octadecyl ester) in NPs prepared by nanoprecipitation of a biodegradable polymer, poly‐lactide‐co‐glycolide (PLGA). We found that increase in counterion hydrophobicity enhances dye encapsulation efficiency and prevents dye adsorption at the particle surface. Cellular imaging studies revealed that ≥95 % encapsulation efficiency, achieved with most hydrophobic counterions (fluorinated tetraphenylborates), is absolutely required because non‐encapsulated dye species at the surface of NPs are the origin of dye leakage and strong fluorescence background in cells. The size of counterions is found to be essential to prevent ACQ, where the largest species, serving as effective spacer between dyes, provide the highest fluorescence quantum yield. Moreover, we found that the most hydrophobic counterions favor dye–dye coupling inside NPs, leading to ON/OFF fluorescence switching of single particles. By contrast, less hydrophobic counterions tend to disperse dyes in the polymer matrix favoring stable emission of NPs. The obtained structure‐property relationships validate the counterion‐based approach as a mature concept to fight ACQ and dye leakage in the development of advanced polymeric nanomaterials with controlled optical properties