Switching Energy Dissipation Pathway: in situ Proton-Induced Transformation of AIE-Active Self-assembly to Boost Photodynamic Therapy

An aggregation-induced emission-active self-assembly was fabricated to study the functions variation in morphological transformation. The excited-state energy of this self-assembly was dissipated via radiative decay showing strong emission, and the energy dissipation pathway could switch to non-radiative decay, offering high generation efficiencies of reactive oxygen species upon in situ proton-induced morphological transformation.