Crucial Breakthrough of Functional Persistent Luminescence Materials for Biomedical and Information Technological Applications

Abstract

Persistent luminescence is a phenomenon in which luminescence is maintained for minutes to hours without an excitation source. Owing to their unique optical properties, various kinds of persistent luminescence materials (PLMs) have been developed and widely employed in numerous areas, such as bioimaging, phototherapy, data-storage, and security technologies. Due to the complete separation of two processes, —excitation and emission—, minimal tissue absorption, and negligible autofluorescence can be obtained during biomedical fluorescence imaging using PLMs. Rechargeable PLMs with super long afterglow life provide novel approaches for long-term phototherapy. Moreover, owing to the exclusion of external excitation and the optical rechargeable features, multicolor PLMs, which have higher decoding signal-to-noise ratios and high storage capability, exhibited an enormous application potential in information technology. Therefore, PLMs have significantly promoted the application of optics in the fields of multimodal bioimaging, theranostics, and information technology. In this review, we focus on the recently developed PLMs, including inorganic, organic and inorganic-organic hybrid PLMs to demonstrate their superior applications potential in biomedicine and information technology.

Optically Stimulated Luminescence Phosphors: Principles, Applications, and Prospects

“…Owing to the energy conservation characteristics‐controllable absorption, storage and on‐demand release of energy, OSL materials have attracted widespread applications in many important fields, varying from environmental science, biomedical science, security encryption, food safety, radiation dosimetry, luminescence dating, advance photonics to optical data storage (ODS). [ 22–46 ] Up to now, enormous efforts have been devoted to this topic and some OSL materials have been developed for commercial use. However, many critical issues, such as selection principles of material compositions, crystal structure design, the nature of traps, tailoring of trap distribution, selection of stimulation wavelength, and the underlying mechanisms, are not fully understood.…”

Rare earth free bright and persistent white light emitting zinc gallo-germanate nanosheets: technological advancement to fibers with enhanced quantum efficiency

“…Optical materials which display bright emission and exhibit persistent luminescence (PerL) have shown tremendous potential as advanced materials to be used in many aspects of daily human life. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] PerL is the emission of light which persists for an extended period of time after the cessation of excitation whose intensity and duration depend on trap density and trap depth.…”

“…Visible light emitting PerL materials are widely used in night vision, interior decorations, displays, and smart textiles as well as in emerging technologies such as anti-counterfeiting, optical recording and bioimaging. 6,7,9,10,[16][17][18][19][20][21] One of the major challenges in bioimaging is large auto-fluorescence background due to tissue excitation in upconversion (UC) and downconversion (DC) applications. The best way to resolve this issue is to separate excitation and emission, which is possible with PerL.…”

Opportunities for Persistent Luminescent Nanoparticles in Luminescence Imaging of Biological Systems and Photodynamic Therapy

“…Due to the broad range of applications and promising use in luminescence imaging of biological systems, specific properties or specific applications of PeL materials have been reviewed over the past years. However, past reviews were focused solely on use and advances of PeL in biological systems [ 54 , 90 ], design and synthesis of PeL and their impact over the years [ 91 ]. Our work intends to go deeper into PeL nanomaterials applied for luminescence imaging in biological systems, their synthesis, and an extensive compilation of materials and methods for that specific application.…”