“…However, in general, fluorescence properties of lanthanide complexes [36] undergo a significant deterioration in water due to quenching phenomena. In agreement with reported results [29,30,31,32,36,37,38], in general, a significantly improved photochemical stability can be achieved by taking advantage of the lanthanide complex encapsulation within a protecting silica shell, able to inhibit quenching phenomena due to diffusion of environmental ions or ligands and deterioration of the lanthanide-antenna ligands [32,36,37,38]. In addition, the functionalization of the SNs surface with NH 2 groups allow them to be suitably conjugated to the TSPO ligands, as they expose a derivatizable carboxylic end group.…”