Up to now, PersL materials emitting visible light have been extensively studied and applied in emergency signage, optical data storage and anti-counterfeiting, energy-saving catalysis, and many other aspects. [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] Recently, near-IR (NIR) PersL materials have received particular interest due to their great application prospects in various biomedical applications, such as autofluorescence-free bioimaging, longterm biomolecule tracking. [20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27] However, in stark contrast to the evolving progress in the research of the PersL materials in visible region, the study concerning the design and development of NIR PersL materials is still lacking. [28,29] Hence, it is significantly important to develop and make up the number of NIR PersL materials.The luminescent materials are composed of matrixes and activators, the activators exist as emission centers while the matrixes provide an appropriate crystal environment for activators. [30] At present, most reported NIR PersL materials are based on Cr 3+ emitters. [28] Nevertheless, the toxicity of chromium might lead to biosafety and biodistribution issues of these Cr 3+ -activated materials in organisms, which would severely hindered further practical bioapplications. [31][32][33] As an essential element of the human body, the promising and so far rarely investigated ferric ions can be a considerable candidate for activator ions to address the toxicity issue of Cr 3+ . [34] Unfortunately, the number of studies on the rational design of Fe 3+doped NIR PersL remains very quiet. [35,36] Hitherto, the majority of the research concerning Fe 3+ -activated luminescent materials is devoted to their photoluminescence (PL) properties and the related luminescence thermometer application. [37,38] This may be because Fe 3+ is usually regarded as a luminescent quencher, and it is hard to control the crystal environments of the matrixes for achieving PersL of Fe 3+ . Therefore, it is vital importance to explore a special crystal structure and regulate the defect properties for the development of Fe 3+ -activated NIR PersL materials.Spinel configuration can be one of the best host material candidates when designing PersL materials owing to the easy formation of vacancies and anti-site defects. [39,40] However, the PersL from Fe 3+ doped in spinel-type compounds has never been reported before. [41] Herein, we propose a new strategy of defect enrichment for the activation of PersL, and in contrast to the normal spinel configuration, we demonstrate that the crystal structure of near inverse spinel ensures more numerous Spinel configuration is a kind of broadly considered host candidate when designing persistent luminescence (PersL) materials due to the easy generation of vacancies and anti-site defects. Here, a new strategy of defect enrichment for the activation of PersL is proposed, and in contrast to the spinel configuration, it is demonstrated that the crystal structure of near inverse spinel ensures more numerous defects to activat...