Recognition units. To render a nanomaterial sensitive to a specific analyte class, an analyte needs to interact and modify the fluorescent properties of a nanomaterial. Nanomaterials are therefore modified with recognition units that provide some selectivity toward the analyte. Classical examples of such interactions are antibodies and aptamers that are optimized to bind to a respective analyte. Additionally, smaller fragments or non-traditional recognition units such as nucleic acids and functional polymers can be interesting because they can form selective corona phases (CoPhMoRe) on the nanomaterial that serves both recognition and signal transduction. While the attachment of an antibodiy (-fragment), aptamer or nucleic acid allows for maximum rationality in the approach, the throughput is often limited by a low number of available recognition units and the relatively high cost associated with the previous optimization.