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The development of macroscopic aerogels from 1D systems, such as nanofibers, has resulted in a novel pathway to obtain porous and lightweight architectures. In this work, bright green, red, and tunable color emitting aerogels were obtained with luminescent nanofibers as the precursor system. A simple, low cost, and environmentally friendly process is followed where luminescent fillers are encapsulated within fibers which were subsequently freeze-dried to form 3D aerogels and sponge-like structures. Moreover, the aerogels/sponge-like structures show higher photoluminescence intensity than the fiber mats due to an increase of porosity which provides higher and direct interaction with the fillers and therefore an efficient light absorption resulting in higher luminescence. Manganese doped zinc germanate (Mn: Zn 2 GeO 4 ) nanorods and chromium doped zinc gallate (Cr: ZnGa 2 O 4 ) nanoparticles were used as the source of green and red emissions respectively. By precisely adjusting the stoichiometric ratios of nanorods and nanoparticles within the nanofibers, a broad spectrum output is obtained from the final aerogels. We foresee that these types of photoluminescent aerogels have promising potential applications in a variety of fields such as display devices, solid-state lighting, sensors, etc. 

The current paper presents the development and characterization of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF)-Zn2GeO4 (ZGO) fine fiber mats. ZGO nanorods (NRs) were synthesized using a hydrothermal method and incorporated in a PVDF solution to produce fine fiber mats. The fiber mats were prepared by varying the concentration of ZGO NRs (1.25–10 wt %) using the Forcespinning® method. The developed mats showed long, continuous, and homogeneous fibers, with average fiber diameters varying from 0.7 to 1 µm, depending on the ZGO concentration. X-ray diffraction spectra depicted a positive correlation among concentration of ZGO NRs and strengthening of the beta phase within the PVDF fibers. The composite system containing 1.25 wt % of ZGO displayed the highest piezoelectric response of 172 V. This fine fiber composite system has promising potential applications for energy harvesting and the powering of wearable and portable electronics. 

Persistent luminescent nanocrystals (PLNCs) in the sub‐10 nm domain are considered to be the most fascinating inventions in lighting technology owing to their excellent performance in anti‐counterfeiting, luminous paints, bioimaging, security applications, etc. Further improvement of persistent luminescence (PersL) intensity and lifetime is needed to achieve the desired success of PLNCs while keeping the uniform sub‐10 nm size. In this work, the concept of molten salt confinement to thermally anneal as‐synthesized ZnGa₂O₄:Cr³⁺(ZGOC) colloidal NCs (CNCs) in a molten salt medium at 650 °C is introduced. This method led to significantly monodispersed and few agglomerated NCs with a much improved photoluminescence (PL) and PersL intensity without much growth in the size of the pristine CNCs. Other strategies such as i) thermal annealing, ii) overcoating, and iii) the core–shell strategy have also been tried to improve PL and PersL but did not improve them simultaneously. Moreover, directly annealing the CNCs in air without the assistance of molten salt could significantly improve both PL and PersL but led to particle heterogeneity and aggregation, which are highly unsuitable for in vivo imaging. We believe this work provides a novel strategy to design PLNCs with high PL intensity and long PersL duration without losing their nanostructural characteristics, water dispersibility and biocompatibility.