Amplifying Persistent Luminescence in Heavily Doped Nanopearls for Bioimaging and Solar-to-Chemical Synthesis

Lanthanides are widely codoped in persistent luminescence phosphors (PLPs) to elevate defect concentration and enhance luminescence efficiency. However, the deleterious cross-relaxation between activators and lanthanides inevitably quenches persistent luminescence, particularly in heavily doped phosphors. Herein, we report a core–shell engineering strategy to minimize the unwanted cross-relaxation but retain the charge trapping capacity of heavily doped persistent luminescence phosphors by confining the activators and lanthanides in the core and shell, respectively. As a proof of concept, we prepared a series of codoped ZnGa₂O₄:Cr, Ln (CD-Ln, Ln = Nd, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb) and core–shell structured ZnGa₂O₄:Cr@ZnGa₂O₄:Ln (CS-Ln) nanoparticles. First-principles investigations suggested that lanthanide doping elevated the electron trap concentration for enhancing persistent luminescence, but energy transfer (ET) from Cr³⁺ to Ln³⁺ ions quenched the persistent luminescence. The spatial separation of Cr³⁺ and Ln³⁺ ions in the core–shell structured CS-Ln nanoparticles suppressed the ET from Cr³⁺ to Ln³⁺. Due to the efficient suppression of deleterious ET, the optimal doping concentration of Ln in CS-Ln was elevated 50 times compared to CD-Ln. Moreover, the persistent luminescence intensity of CS-5%Ln was up to 60 times that of the original ZnGa₂O₄:Cr. The CS-5%Ln displayed significantly improved signal-to-noise ratios in bioimaging. Further, the CS-Ln was interfaced with the lycopene-producing bacteria Rhodopseudomonas palustris for solar-to-chemical synthesis, and the lycopene productivity was increased by 190%. This work provides a reliable solution to fulfill the potential of lanthanides in enhancing persistent luminescence and can further promote the applications of persistent luminescence phosphors in biomedicine and solar-to-chemical synthesis.