Aggregation-induced emission organic metal halide complex for X-ray scintillation

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Radiological Physics
• Organic Chemistry

Background:

• Expanding applications of X-ray scintillation in healthcare and security necessitate advanced materials.
• Current scintillators require improvements in sensitivity, efficiency, and processing versatility.
• Organic metal halide complexes offer potential for novel scintillator development.

Purpose of the Study:

• To report the first use of organic metal halide complexes with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) for X-ray scintillation.
• To synthesize and characterize a novel AIE-based organic metal halide complex for X-ray detection.
• To evaluate the performance of the new material in terms of sensitivity, efficiency, and response linearity.

Main Methods:

• Synthesis of organic metal halide complex (TPA-PD)2ZnCl2 from AIE molecule TPA-PD and ZnCl2.
• Optical characterization including photoluminescence (PL) and radioluminescence (RL) spectroscopy.
• Performance evaluation for X-ray scintillation, including dose-response linearity and limit of detection.

Main Results:

• High synthetic yield (87%) of (TPA-PD)2ZnCl2 achieved via solution-phase reaction.
• Exhibited bluish-green radioluminescence (peak ~450 nm) with high PLQE (65%) and light yield (13,423 Photon/MeV).
• Demonstrated excellent dose-response linearity and a low limit of detection (80.23 nGyair s−1) for X-ray detection.

Conclusions:

• Organic metal halide complexes with AIE properties represent a promising new class of solution-processable scintillators.
• The combination of metal halide X-ray absorption and AIE fast radioluminescence enhances scintillator performance.
• This design opens avenues for developing high-performance, versatile X-ray scintillators for diverse applications.