Toward single-molecule microscopy on a smart phone.

Abstract

Thanks to fluorescence, single nano-objects down to individual fluorophores can now be imaged in optical microscopes. Fluorescence imaging is still restricted to laboratory facilities as it usually involves expensive and bulky instrumentation. A report by Wei et al. in this issue of ACS Nano, however, shows that a sensitive, cost-effective, and portable device can be developed to image individual nano-objects as small as large viruses. This work opens the fascinating prospects of single-molecule microscopy and spectroscopy on a smart phone. We speculate on the possible applications of such a portable imaging device and on the perspectives it may open in different fields of science and technology.