Chemiluminescence (CL) is of great significance in biochemical analysis and imaging due to its high sensitivity and lack of need for external excitation. In this review, we summarized the recent progress of AIE-based CL systems, including their working mechanisms and applications in biochemical analysis, bioimaging, and disease diagnosis and treatment. In ion and molecular detection, CL shows high selectivity and high sensitivity, especially in the detection of dynamic reactive oxygen species (ROS). Further, the integrated NIR-CL single-molecule system and nanostructural CL platform harnessing CL resonance energy transfer (CRET) have remarkable advantages in long-term imaging with superior capability in penetrating deep tissue depth and high signal-to-noise ratio, and are promising in the applications of in vivo imaging and image-guided disease therapy. Finally, we summarized the shortcomings of the existing AIE-CL system and provided our perspective on the possible ways to develop more powerful CL systems in the future. It can be highly expected that these promoted CL systems will play bigger roles in biochemical analysis and disease theranostics.
Keywords: aggregation-induced emission; bioimaging; chemiluminescence; disease therapy; molecular sensing.