Fast and Inexpensive Separation of Bright Phosphor Particles from Commercial Sources by Gravitational and Centrifugal Sedimentation for Deep Tissue X-ray Luminescence Imaging

X-ray luminescence tomography (XLT) detects scintillators contrast agents using a focused or collimated beam to provide high spatial resolution excitation through thick tissue. The approach requires bright nanophosphors that are either synthesized purchased. However, currently available commercial mostly composed of polydisperse mixture several micro- nano-sized particles unsuitable for biomedical imaging applications because their size and aggregated form. Here, we demonstrate fast robust method obtain uniform nano submicron phosphor from source Eu- Tb-doped Gd2O2S by separating the smaller present gravitational centrifugal sedimentation. In ball milling 15–60 min, which drastically degraded particles’ brightness while reducing size, our sedimentation enabled extraction comparatively (?100–300 nm in size) with intensity ?10–20% micron sample. Moreover, if scale up higher yielding is required, process can be accelerated fixed-angle and/or swinging bucket rotating centrifugation. Finally, after separation characterization, phosphors were suspended imaged 5 mm porcine tissue in-house-built scanning induced chemical (XELCI) system.