Engineering traps in Tm-doped calcium titanate for visible and near-infrared double band persistent luminescence bioimaging

Leping Ding; Juanjuan Zhou; Gulizhabaier Abulipizi; Ziang Zong; Zihao Chen; Yawen Zheng; Xingyuan Shi; Zhanjun Li

doi:10.59717/j.xinn-mater.2026.100200

The Innovation Materials > 2026 Vol. 4 > No. 2 > 100200

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Engineering traps in Tm-doped calcium titanate for visible and near-infrared double band persistent luminescence bioimaging

1.
Key Laboratory of Biological Targeting Diagnosis, Therapy and Rehabilitation of Guangdong Higher Education Institutes, The Fifth Affiliated Hospital, School of Biomedical Engineering, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou 511436, China
2.
College of Chemistry and Molecular Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China
3.
School of Health, Guangzhou Vocational University of Science and Technology, Guangzhou 510080, China
4.
Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou 510095, China

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Corresponding authors: zhanjunli@gzhmu.edu.cn (Z.L.); jjzhou417@163.com (J.Z.)
Received Date: September 17, 2025

Accepted Date: January 26, 2026

Published Online: January 26, 2026

The Innovation Materials 4(2), https://doi.org/10.59717/j.xinn-mater.2026.100200 | Cite this article

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PUBLIC SUMMARY

PUBLIC SUMMARY
1. Y surpassed Sc, La, Gd, and Lu in enhancing the persistent luminescence (PersL) of CaTiO₃:Tm.
  
  Al, Ga, and In decreased the near-infrared (NIR) PersL of CaTiO₃:Tm.
  
  Three basic laws were derived for optimizing the NIR PersL.
  
  CaTiO₃:Tm, Y, Pr showed visible and NIR PersL at 613 and 803 nm, respectively.
  
  CaTiO₃:Tm, Pr, Y was applied to multi-modal imaging both in vitro and in vivo.

ABSTRACT

ABSTRACT

CaTiO₃:Tm (CTT) has unusual red-light charged near-infrared (NIR) persistent luminescence (PersL) property at ~ 800 nm. In this study, trap engineering was realized by co-doping CTT with 8 non-luminescent trivalent ions. Some basic laws in optimizing the NIR PersL of CTT were established based on the observation that rare earth dopants, including Sc/Y/La/Gd/Lu, at the A site of the ABO₃ perovskite structure of CaTiO₃ increased the PersL while the boron group dopants, including Al/Ga/In, at the B site led to decreased PersL. Y was found as an efficient co-dopant to realize enhanced NIR PersL in CaTiO₃:Tm,Y (CTT-Y) with a ~60% enhancement vs. CTT. Thermal-stimulated luminescence (TSL) study indicate that Y is the most efficient element in generating abundant energy traps while slightly increased the trap depth from 320 to 326 K. Further, by choosing Pr as the 3rd dopant, visible-NIR double band fluorescence and PersL was realized in CaTiO₃:Tm,Y,Pr (CTT-Y-Pr) at 613 and ~800 nm, which were ~5 and 2 times of those of CaTiO₃:Tm,Pr (CTT-Pr), respectively. CTT-Y-Pr was applied to realize four-modal optical anti-counterfeiting imaging in vitro including visible fluorescence, visible PersL, invisible NIR fluorescence, and invisible NIR PersL. Moreover, visible fluorescence and NIR PersL imaging in vivo was applied to observe implanted tissue filler and its post-surgical tissue cleaning by using CTT-Y-Pr as an optical imaging contrast reagent, which was hard to retrieve once it was injected within body and formed unwanted tiny debris.
- Calcium titanate /
- afterglow /
- near-infrared /
- tissue filler imaging /
- rare earth

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Ding L., Zhou J., Abulipizi G., et al. (2026). Engineering traps in Tm-doped calcium titanate for visible and near-infrared double band persistent luminescence bioimaging. The Innovation Materials 4:100200. https://doi.org/10.59717/j.xinn-mater.2026.100200

Ding L., Zhou J., Abulipizi G., et al. (2026). Engineering traps in Tm-doped calcium titanate for visible and near-infrared double band persistent luminescence bioimaging. The Innovation Materials 4:100200. https://doi.org/10.59717/j.xinn-mater.2026.100200

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Engineering traps in Tm-doped calcium titanate for visible and near-infrared double band persistent luminescence bioimaging

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

PUBLIC SUMMARY

ABSTRACT