Photoluminescence of Tilapia skin collagen: Aggregation-induced emission with clustering triggered emission mechanism and its multiple applications

There is an urgent need for natural sources of aggregation-induced emission (AIE) materials which have good water solubility, biocompatibility, and can be produced in large quantities. Here, Tilapia skin collagen (Tsc) is a very abundant protein in nature, with solid-phase and solution-state fluorescence emission effect and its multiple applications was explored. Due to Tsc was in high concentration or aggregation state which shown AIE property. This obvious emission can be account for clustering-triggered emission (CTE) mechanism. The photoluminescence property of Tsc not only provide a deeper understanding of the emission characteristics of proteins, but also has important guiding significance for further elucidating the basis of fluorescence properties.