Rare Earth Luminescent Materials and Complexes: Structure, Properties and Applications
A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Photochemistry".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 January 2026 | Viewed by 10
Special Issue Editors
Interests: coordination chemistry; rare earth complexes; immobilization matrices; photoluminescence
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: fine inorganic synthesis; rare earth chemistry; photocatalysis; thin films; nuclear chemistry
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Rare earth luminescent materials and complexes continue to stand at the forefront of materials research due to their outstanding optical properties, structural diversity, and broad application potential. The sharp emission lines, long-lived excited states, and excellent photostability of lanthanide-based systems make them indispensable for next-generation technologies in areas such as optical telecommunications, advanced lighting, sensing, and bioimaging.
This Special Issue, “Rare Earth Luminescent Materials and Complexes: Structure, Properties and Applications”, aims to highlight recent advances in the synthesis, characterization, and application of rare earth luminescent materials, ranging from molecular complexes to hybrid systems and nanostructures. We are particularly interested in contributions that explore structure–property relationships, innovative synthetic strategies, photophysical mechanisms (including upconversion and downshifting), and real-world applications.
We welcome original research articles, short communications, and review papers covering topics such as:
- Design and synthesis of luminescent rare earth complexes and materials
- Hybrid organic–inorganic and nanostructured luminescent systems
- Time-resolved luminescence and spectroscopic studies
- Applications in photonics, optoelectronics, sensing, and biomedicine
- Mechanistic insights into luminescence processes
- Advances in sustainable or multifunctional luminescent materials
Given the interdisciplinary nature of this field, contributions from across materials chemistry, coordination chemistry, photophysics, nanotechnology, and biomedical engineering are encouraged. We hope that this Special Issue will serve as a platform for researchers to share their latest findings and inspire new directions in rare earth luminescent science.
We look forward to your valuable contributions.
Dr. Joana Zaharieva
Prof. Dr. Dimitar Todorovsky
Guest Editors
Dr. Vladimira S. Videva
Guest Editor Assistant
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- rare earth elements
- lanthanide complexes
- luminescent materials
- photophysical properties
- upconversion
- downshifting
- coordination compounds
- hybrid materials
- optical materials
- bioimaging
- photonics
- sensing
- nanomaterials
- structure–property relationships
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