Cuprous Halides Scintillator via Anion-Substitution Strategy for X-Ray Dynamic Imaging

Abstract

The advancement of dynamic X-ray imaging demands scintillators that combine high light yield, rapid decay kinetics, environmental sustainability, and operational stability. In recent years, low-dimensional copper-based halides, as a representative efficient luminescent material, shows great potential as a scintillator for X-ray detection. Herein, a 0D organic copper(I) halide (TBA)CuI1.6Br0.4 (TBA = C16H36N) single crystal scintillator is prepared through an anion-substitution strategy. The addition of bromine increases the structural rigidity, reducing electronic repulsion between copper and iodine atoms and minimizing photon loss through non-radiative recombination pathways, resulting in an impressive photoluminescence quantum yield of 91.93%. More importantly, it demonstrates an enhanced X-ray response with a high light yield (45 369 photons MeV−1), a perfect linear relationship with the dose rate, a detection limit of 0.12 µGy s−1, and a spatial resolution of 13.8 lp mm−1. Moreover, after 60 on-off cycles of X-ray irradiation, it shows negligible intensity attenuation, indicating good operational stability. This study presents a highly emissive 0D organic copper(I) halide scintillator and highlights its potential in medical diagnostics and dynamic X-ray imaging applications.