The ability to detect nanoparticle fluorescence is important when attempting to distinguish a particular subset of particles from within a complex background. Particles that are fluorescent can be measured in terms of particle size and concentration to understand the nature of those particles.

A typical application for this is in understanding the fate of drug delivery vectors and the toxicology of nanoparticles in biological environments.

Alternatively, fluorescently labelled antibodies may be used to bind specifically to target particles within a sample, providing a mechanism to identify specific particle populations within an unknown sample.

This has implications in diagnostic applications such as research into exosomes and microvesicles, where specific markers can be identified and monitored in the detection of disease.