Recent Advances of Persistent Luminescence Nanoparticles in Bioapplications

Abstract

Persistent luminescence phosphors are a novel group of promising luminescent materials with afterglow properties after the stoppage of excitation. In the past decade, persistent luminescence nanoparticles (PLNPs) with intriguing optical properties have attracted a wide range of attention in various areas. Especially in recent years, the development and applications in biomedical fields have been widely explored. Owing to the efficient elimination of the autofluorescence interferences from biotissues and the ultra-long near-infrared afterglow emission, many researches have focused on the manipulation of PLNPs in biosensing, cell tracking, bioimaging and cancer therapy. These achievements stimulated the growing interest in designing new types of PLNPs with desired superior characteristics and multiple functions. In this review, we summarize the works on synthesis methods, bioapplications, biomembrane modification and biosafety of PLNPs and highlight the recent advances in biosensing, imaging and imaging-guided therapy. We further discuss the new types of PLNPs as a newly emerged class of functional biomaterials for multiple applications. Finally, the remaining problems and challenges are discussed with suggestions and prospects for potential future directions in the biomedical applications.

Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles in Bioimaging

“…Persistent luminescent nanoparticles (PLNPs) can be synthesised by various methods including both sol–gel and template chemistry, with MSNs, as of writing this review, the only successful template offering control over morphology [ 136 ]. MSN templates can, for example, be used to generate multifunctional MSN/PLNP nanocomposites with Li et al reporting a facile fabrication of persistent luminescent SrMgSiO 6 :Eu 2+ 0.01 ,Dy 3+ 0.02 nanocomposites by a high-temperature conversion of the metal (Sr 2+ , Mg 2+ , Eu 2+ , Dy 3+ ) impregnated MCM-41 [ 137 ].…”

Persistent luminescence nanoparticles for cancer theranostics application

“…Inspired by these characteristic advantages of PLNPs, an increasing number of researches have been reported for PLNPsbased bioimaging and therapy. Though some reviews have been shown from different aspects of PLNPs field [7,9,[17][18][19][20][21], it is still important to make a new summarization to stress on the cancer theranostics application using the rational designed PLNPs nanoplatforms.…”

Surface Modified Persistent Luminescence Probes for Biosensing and Bioimaging: A Review

“…Notably, PLMs can keep emitting light without continuous in situ excitation by which the autofluorescence interference elicited by biological system itself can be effectively eliminated and accordingly provide superior signal‐ to‐noise ratio (SNR). [ 8 ] Hence, PLMs’ remarkable performance makes long‐term bioimaging possible and greatly improves the sensitivity of biosensing and bioimaging comparing with conventional luminescence materials. Considered to be a class of excellent optical probes, PLMs have therefore gained extensive attention and opened up new directions in biomedicine and bioanalysis fields.…”

“…summarized the advances of PLMs in synthesis methods, bioapplications, biosafety and biomembrane modification. [ 8 ] Yuan et al . recently highlighted the progress in designing near‐infrared (NIR) PLMs‐based probes and their applications in time‐resolved bioimaging and biosensing.…”