NIR Persistent Luminescence of Lanthanide Ion-Doped Rare-Earth Oxycarbonates: The Effect of Dopants

A series of luminescent rare-earth ion-doped hexagonal II-type Gd oxycarbonate phosphors Gd2–xRExO2CO3 (RE = Eu3+, Yb3+, Dy3+) have been successfully synthesized by thermal decomposition of the corresponding mixed oxalates. The Yb3+ doped Gd-oxycarbonate has evidenced a high persistent luminescence in the NIR region, that is independent from the temperature and makes this materials particular attractive as optical probes for bioimaging.