Surface Modified Persistent Luminescence Probes for Biosensing and Bioimaging: A Review

Persistent luminescence materials (PLMs) are a class of unique luminescent materials that can remain luminescent for a few milliseconds to days without constant excitation. By virtue of the super long decay time, PLMs have been extensively explored in biosensing and bioimaging applications to elimin ate autofluorescence interference and improve signal-to-noise ratio in complex samples and tissues. However, nude PLMs often suffer from the poor stability, selectivity, and biocompatibility in biological system and in vivo, which greatly impedes their applications in biomedicine and bioanalysis. Remarkably, surface modification is a viable solution that endows PLMs with span-new features and can make PLMs suitable for organisms by altering PLMs' interaction with biological system. In this review, commonly used strategies for surface modification of PLMs are briefly introduced, and the applications of surface modified PLMs in biosensing and bioimaging as well as their challenges are summarized.

Automated summary

Persistent luminescence materials (PLMs) have great potential for biological applications but require surface modification to overcome stability, selectivity, and biocompatibility issues in biological systems.