Next-Generation Luminescence Thermometry and Sensing: Multiparameter Readout, Intelligent Data Analysis and Emerging Applications

Alongside electrochemical sensors, luminescent probes represent one of the most established classes of chemical and physical sensors. Over the past fifteen years, substantial progress has been achieved through the development of rare-earth- and transition-metal-doped phosphors, quantum dots, molecular emitters, and hybrid materials with improved sensitivity, stability, and functionality. Luminescence thermometry is among the most mature applications and enables non-contact temperature measurements in systems ranging from microelectronics and energy devices to biological tissues. The same photophysical principles support a much wider sensing space, including the measurement of pressure and the detection of chemical and biochemical species.The next stage in the development of luminescence sensing will depend not only on new materials but also on how the information encoded in their emission is acquired, combined, and interpreted. Conventional readouts based on a single intensity, intensity ratio, spectral shift, polarization, or lifetime remain valuable, but they do not always exploit the full information content of spectral, temporal, and spatially resolved measurements. Multiparameter approaches, sensor fusion, multivariate analysis, and machine-learning-assisted readout offer new possibilities for improving precision, selectivity, operating range, calibration transfer, and resistance to experimental disturbances. These advances are particularly relevant to complex systems in which temperature, pressure, chemical composition, excitation conditions, and instrumental effects may influence the luminescence signal simultaneously.At the same time, luminescence sensing is entering technologically important application areas that require non-invasive, spatially resolved, and operando measurements. Examples include batteries and other energy-storage systems, photovoltaic and optoelectronic devices, micro- and nanoelectronics, catalytic systems, harsh industrial environments, and biomedical platforms. Progress in these areas requires sensing materials, measurement protocols, data-analysis methods, and metrological assessment to be considered as parts of an integrated measurement system.This Research Topic aims to present luminescence thermometry and sensing as an integrated and rapidly developing field in which advances in materials, measurement methodology, data analysis, and applications reinforce one another. We invite contributions that move beyond the exclusive optimization of individual material parameters and address how luminescence signals can be converted into reliable quantitative information.Particular emphasis will be placed on next-generation readout strategies. These include the joint analysis of multiple luminescence observables; simultaneous or cross-sensitive measurement of several physical or chemical quantities; and sensor fusion involving complementary optical or non-optical information. Multivariate statistical methods and machine learning are of special interest when they extract useful information from full spectra, decay profiles, excitation-emission maps, images, or multimodal datasets, or when they improve calibration, selectivity, uncertainty estimation, drift compensation, and measurement transferability. Machine learning is therefore regarded as an important enabling methodology within the broader development of luminescence sensing rather than as the sole focus of the collection.The Research Topic will also address the translation of luminescence sensing into emerging applications. Relevant contributions may concern operando thermal and chemical monitoring of batteries, fuel cells, solar cells and other energy-conversion devices; thermal mapping of electronic and optoelectronic components; sensing in catalytic reactors and high-temperature or high-pressure environments; and spatially resolved measurements in biological systems. Contributions grounded in materials synthesis and structure-property relationships remain central, provided that the connection between material properties and quantitative sensing performance is clearly established.The unifying question is how advanced luminescent materials and modern analytical approaches can provide measurements that are sensitive, selective, reproducible, and applicable under realistic operating conditions. The collection will therefore also welcome critical studies of calibration, uncertainty, repeatability, reproducibility, long-term stability, cross-sensitivity, and interlaboratory comparability. Its broader aim is to identify the materials and methodologies that can move luminescence sensing from proof-of-concept demonstrations toward dependable measurement tools.We welcome Original Research, Review, Mini Review, Perspective, and Methods articles on themes including, but not limited to:• New luminescent materials, probes, and architectures for temperature, pressure, chemical, and biochemical sensing, with quantitatively demonstrated sensing performance• Advanced luminescence thermometry based on intensity, intensity ratios, spectral position and shape, bandwidth, lifetime, polarization, or other temperature-dependent observables• Multiparameter readout combining several luminescence observables to improve precision, selectivity, operating range, or reliability• Multimodal and multifunctional sensors for the simultaneous measurement of temperature, pressure, chemical composition, or other physical and chemical quantities• Sensor-fusion approaches combining complementary luminescence signals or integrating optical measurements with other sensing modalities • Machine learning, multivariate statistics, chemometrics, and full-spectrum or time-resolved analysis of luminescence data• Physics-informed, interpretable, and uncertainty-aware data-analysis methods for luminescence sensing• Calibration transfer, drift correction, compensation for excitation or detection fluctuations, and correction of environmental cross-sensitivities • Luminescence manometry and other emerging approaches to the optical measurement of physical quantities • Optical chemical and biochemical sensing using phosphors, quantum dots, molecular probes, and hybrid platforms• Operando and spatially resolved sensing in batteries, supercapacitors, fuel cells, solar cells, optoelectronic devices, and micro- and nanoelectronic systems• Luminescence sensing in catalytic processes, high-temperature and high-pressure systems, harsh industrial environments, and biological tissues• Multifunctional platforms combining luminescence sensing with imaging, optical or magnetic heating, therapy, or other functions• Metrology of luminescent sensors, including calibration, uncertainty, resolution, repeatability, reproducibility, stability, benchmarking, and interlaboratory comparison• Structure-property relationships in luminescent materials when directly connected to sensing mechanisms and quantitative performanceStudies focused solely on material synthesis or luminescence characterization, without a clear connection to sensing mechanisms, calibration, measurement methodology, or quantitative sensing performance, are outside the primary scope of this collection. Topic editors: Miroslav Dramicanin, Lukasz Marciniak, Sanyasinaidu Boddu Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/85107/next-generation-luminescence-thermometry-and-sensing-multiparameter-readout-intelligent-data-analysis-and-emerging-applications