Gd2O3:Pr3+ nanospheres as bi-functional contrast agents for optical and magnetic resonance imaging properties

Abstract Gadolinium based luminescent materials have been researched due to their unique optical and magnetic properties with excellent chemical stability, which are useful to apply in both magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and fluorescence imaging (FI). In this work, red emitting Gd 2 O 3 :Pr 3+ nanospheres were successfully fabricated by a facile co-precipitation method. The change of reaction time influenced the size of Gd 2 O 3 :Pr 3+ nanospheres and exhibited the sizes between 110 and 250 nm. The size of the Gd 2 O 3 :Pr 3+ nanospheres influenced the luminescence and MR imaging signal intensity. Therefore, it can be applied for bi-functional contrast agents.