Yb³⁺ Energy Relay in Stratified Lanthanide Nanoparticles Enables Multidimensional NIR-II Lifetime Imaging

Area of Science:

• Nanotechnology
• Biomedical Imaging
• Materials Science

Background:

• The second near-infrared window (NIR-II) offers deep tissue penetration for imaging.
• Spectral crosstalk from traditional luminescent materials limits multichannel photoluminescence lifetime imaging (mPLI).

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop novel luminescent nanoparticles for scalable multichannel NIR-II mPLI.
• To overcome spectral crosstalk limitations in current NIR-II imaging techniques.

Main Methods:

• Synthesized lanthanide (Ln³⁺)-doped stratified nanoparticles (Ln-SNPs).
• Engineered Yb³⁺ energy relay nanoparticles for tunable luminescence lifetimes.
• Utilized Tm-SNPs for optimized emission in the NIR-IIc subwindow (~1850 nm).

Main Results:

• Achieved highly efficient multiwavelength NIR-II luminescence with Ln-SNPs.
• Demonstrated precise tuning of luminescence lifetimes across the 1060-2050 nm range.
• Engineered Tm-SNPs showed distinguishable lifetimes spanning three orders of magnitude with high emission intensity.

Conclusions:

• Developed a versatile toolkit for advanced NIR-II mPLI.
• Enabled scalable multichannel imaging by minimizing spectral crosstalk.
• Opened new avenues for multidimensional information encryption and multiplexed bioimaging.