Synthesis of Highly Near-Infrared Persistent Luminescence Nanoparticles for Bioimaging

Persistent luminescence nanoparticles (PLNPs), also called long afterglow luminescent nanoparticles, are emerging as promising nanoscale materials that can remain luminescent for minutes to several days after initial excitation. This unique optical property, termed luminescence stability or afterglow, makes PLNPs a compelling candidate for a variety of bioimaging and biosensing applications, especially in tumor resection surgery. PLNPs that are designed to target tumor cells can help surgeons to identify the location and boundaries of the tumor, relative to healthy tissue, in a patient prior to tumor resection. One of the most substantial challenges for bioimaging tools, in general, is insufficient signal intensity and duration along with cellular toxicity. Near- infrared PLNPs are promising candidates to address this challenge due to their ability to penetrate deeply into the target tissue and to their intense and persistent signal with minimal autofluorescence. In this work, Zinc (II) nitrate and Gallium (III) nitrate were used to generate a nanomaterials-based host structure (ZGO) with Chromium (III) nitrate doped into nanomaterial during synthesis. The characterization results reveal promising prospects for these PLNPs to be tested for bioimaging.