X-ray activated near-infrared persistent luminescence nanoparticles for trimodality in vivo imaging

As promising luminescence nanoparticles, near-infrared (NIR) persistent luminescence nanoparticles (PLNPs) have received extensive attention in the field of high-sensitivity bioimaging in recent years. However, NIR PLNPs face problems such as short excitation wavelengths and single imaging modes, which limit their applications in in vivo reactivated imaging and multimodal imaging. Here, we report for the first time novel Gd₂GaTaO₇:Cr³⁺,Yb³⁺ (GGTO) NIR PLNPs that integrate X-ray activated NIR persistent luminescence (PersL), high X-ray attenuation and excellent magnetic properties into a single nanoparticle (NP). In this case, Cr³⁺ is used as the luminescence center. The co-doped Yb³⁺ and coating effectively enhance the X-ray activated NIR PersL. At the same time, the presence of the high-Z element Ta also makes the GGTO NPs exhibit high X-ray attenuation performance, which can be used as a CT contrast agent to achieve in vivo CT imaging. In addition, since the matrix contains a large amount of Gd, the GGTO NPs show remarkable magnetic properties, which can realize in vivo MR imaging. GGTO NPs combine the trimodal benefits of X-ray reactivated PersL, CT and MR imaging and are suitable for single or combined applications that require high sensitivity and spatial resolution imaging.