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Lanthanide-Doped Luminescent Nanomaterials: Design, Synthesis, Optical Properties and Applications: 2nd Edition

A special issue of Nanomaterials (ISSN 2079-4991). This special issue belongs to the section "Nanophotonics Materials and Devices".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 April 2026) | Viewed by 2399

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Sai Xu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Science, Dalian Maritime University, Dalian, China
Interests: upconversion; energy transfer; perovskites; luminescence enhancement; optical thermometry; biosensor
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Following the tremendous success of the first edition of the Special Issue “Lanthanide-Doped Luminescent Nanomaterials: Design, Synthesis, Optical Properties and Applications”, in which a total of six papers were published (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/nanomaterials/special_issues/1DQH5G5K1J), a second edition is being launched.

Impurity doping is a promising method that can be used to modify material properties. Lanthanide ions have been extensively explored as active dopants in nanomaterials to modulate their morphologies, sizes and electronic configurations. Moreover, doping with lanthanide ions can impart rich optical properties, making doped nanomaterials attractive for many applications. Owing to their unique properties, lanthanide-doped luminescent nanoparticles have found applications in bioimaging, sensing, photothermal therapy, photodetector, solid-state lighting and anti-counterfeiting.

This Special Issue aims to provide an overview of the recent developments in lanthanide-doped luminescent nanomaterials, including the following:

  • Synthesis and morphology control of lanthanide-doped nanomaterials;
  • Optical properties of lanthanide-doped nanomaterials;
  • Application of lanthanide-doped nanomaterials.

Dr. Sai Xu
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Nanomaterials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • lanthanide-doped luminescent nanomaterials
  • upconversion
  • perovskites
  • energy transfer
  • sensing
  • solid-state lighting
  • photodetector
  • anti-counterfeiting

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 9612 KB  
Communication
Lanthanide-Doped Cs2ZrCl6 Perovskite Nanocrystals for Multimode Anti-Counterfeiting Application
by Longbin You, Qixin Wang, Yuting Liao, Xiaotian Zhu, Keyuan Ding and Xian Chen
Nanomaterials 2026, 16(1), 68; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano16010068 - 2 Jan 2026
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1112
Abstract
The escalating prevalence of counterfeiting and forgery has imposed unprecedented demands on advanced anti-counterfeiting technologies. Traditional luminescent materials, relying on single-mode or static emission, are inherently vulnerable to replication using commercially available phosphors or simple spectral blending. Multimode luminescent materials exhibiting excitation wavelength-dependent [...] Read more.
The escalating prevalence of counterfeiting and forgery has imposed unprecedented demands on advanced anti-counterfeiting technologies. Traditional luminescent materials, relying on single-mode or static emission, are inherently vulnerable to replication using commercially available phosphors or simple spectral blending. Multimode luminescent materials exhibiting excitation wavelength-dependent emission offer significantly higher encoding capacity and forgery resistance. Herein, we report the colloidal synthesis of lanthanide-doped Cs2ZrCl6 nanocrystals (Ln3+ = Tb, Eu, Pr, Sm, Dy, Ho) via a robust hot-injection route. These nanocrystals universally exhibit efficient host-to-guest energy transfer from self-trapped excitons (STEs) under 254 nm, yielding sharp characteristic Ln3+ f–f emission alongside the intrinsic broadband STE luminescence. Critically, Tb3+ enables direct 4f → 5d excitation at ~275 nm, while Eu3+ introduces a low-energy Eu3+ ← Cl− LMCT band at ~305 nm, completely bypassing STE emission. Due to their multimode luminescent characteristics, we fabricate a triple-mode anti-counterfeiting label displaying different colors under different types of excitation. These findings establish a breakthrough excitation-encoded multimode platform, offering potential applications for next-generation photonic security labels, scintillation detectors, and solid-state lighting applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Lanthanide-Doped Luminescent Nanomaterials: Design, Synthesis, Optical Properties and Applications: 2nd Edition)
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14 pages, 1834 KB  
Article
Tunable Luminescence in Sb3+-Doped Cs3LnCl6 Perovskites for Wide-Coverage Emission and Anti-Counterfeiting Applications
by Lianao Zhang, Le Chen, Sai Xu, Yongze Cao, Xizhen Zhang, Hongquan Yu, Yuefeng Gao and Baojiu Chen
Nanomaterials 2025, 15(23), 1790; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano15231790 - 27 Nov 2025
Viewed by 846
Abstract
Zero-dimensional (0D) rare-earth-based metal halides show great potential in photonic and optoelectronic applications owing to their high stability, strong exciton confinement, and tunable energy levels. However, the weak absorption and narrow 4f-4f transitions of rare-earth ions limit their performance. To address this, a [...] Read more.
Zero-dimensional (0D) rare-earth-based metal halides show great potential in photonic and optoelectronic applications owing to their high stability, strong exciton confinement, and tunable energy levels. However, the weak absorption and narrow 4f-4f transitions of rare-earth ions limit their performance. To address this, a series of Sb3+-doped Cs3LnCl6 (Ln: Yb, La, Eu, Ho, Ce, Er, Tb, Sm, Y) nanocrystals were synthesized via a hot-injection method to study the role of Sb3+ doping. Sb3+ incorporation induces strong broadband self-trapped exciton (STE) emission from Jahn–Teller-distorted [SbCl6]3− units and enables efficient energy transfer from STEs to rare-earth ions. As a result, the photoluminescence intensity and spectral tunability are improved, accompanied by bandgap narrowing and enhanced light absorption. Different lanthanide hosts exhibit distinct luminescence behaviors: La-based materials show dominant STE emission, while Tb-, Er-, Yb-, Ho-, and Sm-based systems display STE-mediated energy transfer and enhanced f-f emission. In Eu- and Ce-based hosts, unique mechanisms involving Eu2+/Eu3+ conversion and Ce3+ → STE energy transfer are observed. Moreover, composition-dependent emissions in Sb3+-doped Cs3Tb/EuCl6 enable a dual-mode color and spectral encoding strategy for optical anti-counterfeiting. This study highlights the versatile role of Sb3+ in tuning electronic structures and energy transfer, offering new insights for designing high-performance rare-earth halide materials for advanced optoelectronic applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Lanthanide-Doped Luminescent Nanomaterials: Design, Synthesis, Optical Properties and Applications: 2nd Edition)
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