Zero-Dimensional Hybrid Cuprous Halide of [BAPMA]Cu₂Br₅ as a Highly Efficient Light Emitter and an X-Ray Scintillator

Lead halide perovskites have been explored as a new kind of promising X-ray with wide applications in radiation-associated fields, but low light yield and serious toxicity extremely restrict further applications. To address these issues, we herein demonstrated one new zero-dimensional (0D) organic-inorganic hybrid cuprous halide of [BAPMA]Cu₂Br₅ (BAPMA = N,N-Bis(3-aminopropyl) methylamine) containing discrete [Cu₄Br₁₀]^6- tetramers as excellent lead-free scintillators. Upon UV light excitation, [BAPMA]Cu₂Br₅ displays highly efficient broadband yellowish-green light emission with one dominant peak at 526 nm, a large Stokes shift of 244 nm, and a high photoluminescent quantum yield of 53.40%. Significantly, this broadband light emission can also be excited by higher-energy X-ray as radioluminescence with a high scintillation light yield of 43,744 photons/MeV. The detection limit of 0.074 μGy_air/s is also far less than the required value for regular medical diagnostics of 5.5 μGy_air/s. The solution-assembled hybrid structure facilely enables the [BAPMA]Cu₂Br₅-based scintillation screen to display high-performance X-ray imaging with a spatial resolution of 15.79 lp/mm showcasing potential application in X-ray radiography. In brief, combined merits of low toxicity and cost, negligible self-absorption, a low detection limit, considerable light yield, and spatial resolution highlight the excellent scintillation performance of 0D hybrid cuprous halide.