Organic Semiconductor Single Crystals for X‐ray Imaging

Abstract

Low‐dose, high‐resolution X‐ray imaging is vital for medical diagnostics and material/device analyses. Current X‐ray imagers are dominated by expensive inorganic materials via high‐temperature solid processes (up to 1700 °C, e.g., CsI:Tl) with heavy metal elements. It is essential to search for new materials as X‐ray imagers with low growth temperature, low cost, high sensitivity, along with high chemical and environmental stability. Here, 9,10‐diphenylanthracene (9,10‐DPA) single crystals are used as a representative model, which are grown via low‐temperature solution processes, exhibiting intense X‐ray radioluminescence with ultrahigh photon‐conversion efficiency, ultrafast response and high sensitivity. The resolution of devices based on organic crystals exceeds 20.00 lp mm−1. Meanwhile the crystals exhibit high cycle performance under X‐ray irradiation and environmental stability. This study demonstrates that organic semiconductors have potential use in low‐cost, high‐sensitivity and low‐dose X‐ray imaging systems.

Anthracene Single-Crystal Scintillators for Computer Tomography Scanning

“…The radiative process is based on the unique fluorescence mechanism, which is different from the interaction between X-ray photons and luminescence centers in inorganic crystals. While all molecules in organic crystals can be excited under X-ray theoretically, the radioluminescence is created from the transition of excited molecules back to the ground state. − Therefore, it mainly depends on the molecular structure, rather than whether the luminescence center is effective and uniform. The long-range packing order with few defects and few grain boundaries makes them have great potential in X-ray detection.…”

Organic Cocrystals: Recent Advances and Perspectives for Electronic and Magnetic Applications

“…Photoresponse materials play an important role in the organic optoelectronics field, which can transfer optical signals into electrical signals, have wide applications in photodetectors ( Altaqui et al, 2021 ), photoswitches ( Kellner and Berlin, 2020 ), phototransistors ( Gelinck et al, 2010 ; Dong et al, 2012 ), and optical imaging ( Chen et al, 2021 ). An idea photoresponse device should ensure the processes of photon absorption, exciton dissociation, and charge carrier transport ( Najafov et al, 2010 ; Ostroverkhova, 2016 ).…”

Organic phosphorescent scintillation from copolymers by X-ray irradiation

“…Although these inorganic scintillators exhibit excellent properties like strong stopping power, high light output, and low limit of detection, there remain great challenges in processability, modifiability, and production cost 11 , 12 . In contrast with inorganic scintillators, organic counterparts including organic crystals, organic liquids, and plastic scintillators have emerged as promising scintillating materials owing to their inherent merits in terms of affordable raw materials, easy modification and processing, and large-area fabrication 13 , 14 . However, organic dyes with limited effective atomic number result in weak X-ray absorption 15 – 17 .…”