Multiphase Transformation in Hybrid Copper(I)-Based Halides Enable Improved X-ray Scintillation and Real-Time Imaging

Abstract

Crystal-glass phase transformation and glass recrystallization in zero-dimensional (0D) hybrid metal halides make them thriving in X-ray scintillators with the advantages of large-area fabrication and improved performance. Herein, we report three 0D hybrid copper(I) halides composed of identical organic cations and versatile self-assembly of copper-iodide anions and find that the volumes of inorganic anions groups are related to their lattice energies, which conformationally governed the thermodynamics of glass formation through lattice destabilization. A subsequent heating of glass counterparts allows the fabrication of hybrid bulk glass-ceramic via recrystallization, exhibiting outstanding X-ray scintillation performances (with a light yield of 64 000 ph MeV −1 and a detection limit of 72.6 nGy s −1 ) and high stability for real-time X-ray imaging (spatial resolution above 20 lp mm −1 ). This multiphase transformation strategy of luminescence metal halide opens an exploratory way in structural design and phase engineering of large-area halide scintillator screens for X-ray imaging.

Zero-Dimensional Copper(I) Halide Microcrystals as Highly Efficient Scintillators for Flexible X-ray Imaging

“…For instance, ( R , S -2-mpip) 2 Cu 2 I 6 (mpip = methylpiperazinium, C 5 H 14 N 2 2+ ) single crystals display green radioluminescence (RL) with light yield of about 47,000 photon MeV –1 . Furthermore, through modulating the anionic cuprous halide units by virtue of the structural guidance effect of organic cations, the emission spectral range of OIMHs can be tailored in the whole visible spectral range. , Of course, the 0D Cu(I) OIMHs-based scintillator screens remain to face the challenge of poor uniformity, transparency, and stability due to the large bulk crystal sizes, and rare flexible scintillator screens are explored as dynamic X-ray imaging.…”