Department of Chemistry, The University of Western Ontario, 1151 Richmond Street, London, Ontario, N6A 5B7, Canada.
National Synchrotron Radiation Research Centre, 101 Hsin-Ann Road, Hsinchu, 30076, Taiwan.
Phys Chem Chem Phys. 2022 Sep 14;24(35):21131-21140. doi: 10.1039/d2cp03431j.
Near-infrared (NIR)-emitting persistent luminescence (PersL) nanoparticles have attracted great attention as a novel optical probe for bioimaging and biosensing applications. These nanoparticles emit long-lasting luminescence after the removal of the excitation source, which effectively eliminates the interference from tissue autofluorescence. Cr-doped zinc gallate (ZnGaO:Cr, CZGO) is a representative NIR-emitting PersL material. On the other hand, amorphous calcium phosphate (ACP) is a widely used drug carrier due to its high biocompatibility. In this work, we present a design of an ACP-based drug carrier with PersL properties, by forming a CZGO-ACP composite. The PersL properties of CZGO were preserved by composite formation, while it is found that the Zn could migrate from CZGO to ACP during composite formation, leading to different luminescence mechanisms between pure CZGO and the CZGO-ACP composite. The electronic structure of the composite was analyzed by synchrotron X-ray absorption spectroscopy, and a structure-luminescence correlation was proposed.
近红外（NIR）发射持续发光（PersL）纳米粒子作为一种新型的光学探针，在生物成像和生物传感应用中引起了极大的关注。这些纳米粒子在去除激发源后会发出持久的发光，有效地消除了组织自发荧光的干扰。掺铬的锌镓酸盐（ZnGaO:Cr，CZGO）是一种典型的 NIR 发射 PersL 材料。另一方面，无定形磷酸钙（ACP）由于其高生物相容性而被广泛用作药物载体。在这项工作中，我们通过形成 CZGO-ACP 复合材料，设计了一种具有 PersL 性能的 ACP 基药物载体。复合材料的形成保留了 CZGO 的 PersL 性能，然而，发现在复合材料形成过程中，Zn 可以从 CZGO 迁移到 ACP，导致纯 CZGO 和 CZGO-ACP 复合材料之间的发光机制不同。通过同步辐射 X 射线吸收光谱分析了复合材料的电子结构，并提出了结构-发光相关性。
