Nanosized rare earth phosphovanadate phosphors (Y(P,V)O(4):Eu(3+)) have been prepared by applying the organic-inorganic polymeric precursors methodology. Luminescent powders with tetragonal structure and different vanadate concentrations (0%, 1%, 5%, 10%, 20%, 50%, and 100%, with regard to the phosphate content) were then obtained for evaluation of their structural and spectroscopic properties....

Lantern sharks are small deep-sea sharks that harbour complex species-specific luminescent photophore patterns. The luminescent pattern of one of these sharks, Etmopterus spinax, is made up of nine luminous zones. Previous experiments revealed that in the largest of these zones (ventral zone), photophores are under hormonal control, light being triggered by both melatonin (MT) and prolactin (PR...

beta-galactosidase (beta-gal), the product of the E. coli LacZ gene, has been used extensively as a reporter in numerous systems. Until recently, the most commonly used method of detecting beta-gal reporter enzymatic activity was a colormetric assay based on the cleavage of the beta-gal substrate 5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl beta-D-galactopyranoside (X-gal) to form a blue precipitate. However, wh...

A functional ruthenium(ii) complex, [Ru(bpy)2(AN-bpy)](PF6)2 (bpy: 2,2'-bipyridine, AN-bpy: 4-methyl-4'-(4-amino-3-nitro-phenoxy-methylene)-2,2'-bipyridine), has been designed and synthesized as a turn-on luminescent probe for the imaging of hypochlorous acid (HOCl) in living cells. Due to the intramolecular photoinduced electron transfer (PET), the ruthenium(ii) complex itself is almost non-lu...

Luminescent bacteria in the family Vibrionaceae (Bacteria: γ-Proteobacteria) are commonly found in complex, bilobed light organs of sepiolid and loliginid squids. Although morphology of these organs in both families of squid is similar, the species of bacteria that inhabit each host has yet to be verified. We utilized sequences of 16S ribosomal RNA, luciferase α-subunit (luxA) and the glycerald...

Most recently, stimuli-responsive luminescent materials have attracted increasing interest because they can exhibit tunable emissive properties which are sensitive to external physical stimuli, such as light, temperature, force, and electric field. Among these stimuli, electric field is an important external stimulus. However, examples of electrochromic luminescent materials that exhibit emissi...

Luminescent materials from europium β-diketonate complex in ionic liquids (ILs) could achieve enhanced luminescence efficiencies and photostabilities. However, the question of how to provide a feasible and environmentally-friendly way to distribute these lanthanide complexes uniformly and stably within IL-based matrix remains a significant challenge. Here, a soft luminescent material from IL-me...

Breakdown of chlorophyll is a major contributor to the diagnostic color changes in fall leaves, and in ripening apples and pears, where it commonly provides colorless, nonfluorescent tetrapyrroles. In contrast, in ripening bananas (Musa acuminata) chlorophylls fade to give unique fluorescent catabolites (FCCs), causing yellow bananas to glow blue, when observed under UV light. Here, we demonstr...

Ultrafine composite fibers consisting of a thermoplastic polyurethane solid-solid phase-change material and organic lanthanide luminescent materials were prepared through a parallel electrospinning technique as an innovative type of ultrafine, dual-functional fibers containing phase-change and luminescent properties. The morphology and structure, thermal energy storage, and luminescent properti...

Luminescent mesoporous Tb(OH)3@SiO2 core-shell nanospheres were synthesized through W/O microemulsion process at ambient temperature. The negatively charged silica favors a coating of the positively charged Tb3+ composite. Thus, silicon layer was adsorbed on the surface of Tb(OH)3 groups to form Tb-O-Si through electrostatic interaction. X-ray diffraction, field emission transmission electron m...