All-Inorganic Copper Halide as a Stable and Self-Absorption-Free X-ray Scintillator

Abstract

Lead halide perovskites have recently shown great potential as X-ray scintillators; however, the toxicity of the lead element seriously restricts their applications. Herein we report a new lead-free and self-absorption-free scintillator based on Rb 2 CuCl 3 metal halide. The Rb 2 CuCl 3 exhibits a near-unity photoluminescence quantum yield (99.4%) as well as a long photoluminescence lifetime (11.3 μs). Furthermore, Rb 2 CuCl 3 demonstrates an appreciable light yield of 16 600 photons per megaelectronvolt and a large scintillation response with a linear range from 48.6 nGy air s −1 to 15.7 μGy air s −1 . Notably, the detection limit is as low as 88.5 nGy air s −1 , enabling a reduced radiation dose to the human body when a medical and security check is conducted. In addition, Rb 2 CuCl 3 exhibits good stability against the atmosphere, continuous ultraviolet light, as well as X-ray irradiation. The combination of the decent scintillation performance, low toxicity and good stability suggests the Rb 2 CuCl 3 could be a possible promising X-ray scintillator.

Highly efficient eco-friendly X-ray scintillators based on an organic manganese halide

“…As shown in Fig. 2c, the light yield of (C 38 H 34 P 2 )MnBr 4 is comparable to those of recently reported lead-free metal halides, such as Cs 3 Cu 2 I 5 (79,279 photon MeV −1 ) 43 and Rb 2 CuBr 3 (91,056 photon MeV −1 ) 33 , and much better than those of Rb 2 CuCl 3 (16,600 photon MeV −1 ) 34 , widely investigated CsPbBr 3 nanocrystals (21,000 photon MeV −1 ) 22 , and many commercially available scintillators, such as CsI:Tl (54,000 photon MeV −1 ) and CdWO 4 (28,000 photon MeV −1 ). Moreover, based on the toxicity classification (health and environment) information of metal halides from material safety data sheet, (C 38 H 34 P 2 )MnBr 4 is believed to be significantly less toxic than existing scintillators mentioned above.…”

“…As shown in Supplementary Table 3, Pb(II), Cu(I), CsI, and GdWO 4 possess the most severe toxicity in the environment, and Tl(I) and CsI are moderately toxic to health. Also, 87 Rb isotope is radioactive 34 . Mn(II) is considered to be less toxic for health and friendly to the environment.…”

“…The intensity decreased to the background level in 10 ms after the cease of the excitation source, indicating the suitability for high contrast imaging. The excellent performance of X-ray imaging could be attributed to the negligible self-absorption, high PLQE, light yield, and low detection limit of (C 38 H 34 P 2 )MnBr 4 33,34,43,44 . Flexible devices have received tremendous attention nowadays for their good foldability, high crack resistance, favorable compatibility, and potential application in portable and wearable devices.…”

Color Tunable Self‐Trapped Emissions from Lead‐Free All Inorganic IA‐IB Bimetallic Halides Cs‐Ag‐X (X = Cl, Br, I)

“…From the decay lifetime values, it would be noted here that such self‐trap state (STS) related emissions might have shorter and longer lifetime. [ 7a,8b,9a,15 ] For better understanding, fitted data in all our halides were also analyzed (Table S10, Supporting Information) and it was clear that in all cases a longer component having few hundred nanoseconds lifetime were also associated. However, the average lifetime was reduced due to larger contribution of fast decay component.…”

Mn2+ Induced Significant Improvement and Robust Stability of Radioluminescence in Cs3Cu2I5 for High Performance Nuclear Battery

“…Referring to the problem of lead, Tang et al developed a new copper-based scintillator with ultrahigh LY. 22,23 Whereas, the emission peak locates in the UV region, which is not consistent with the response of PVDs. Kovalenko et al reported the fabrication of zero-dimensional tin (Sn 2+ ) halides and achieved relatively high LY and long-wavelength emission (660 nm) simultaneously.…”