A Thermo-Responsive MOFs for X-Ray Scintillator.

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Nanotechnology
• Radiological Physics

Background:

• Thermo-responsive materials are crucial for temperature sensing, but photoluminescent options are unreliable in X-ray environments.
• Existing X-ray detection methods lack self-calibration and can be affected by radiation interference.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop novel thermo-responsive lanthanide metal-organic frameworks (Ln-MOFs) scintillators for self-calibrating thermometry in X-ray environments.
• To introduce radio-luminescent functional building units (RBUs) for enhanced performance and reliability.

Main Methods:

• Design and synthesis of RBUs incorporating organic ligands and Tb³⁺/Eu³⁺ for optimal energy levels.
• Construction of Ln-MOFs scintillators capable of radio-luminescence and thermo-responsiveness.
• Characterization of X-ray response, dose rate detection limit, self-calibrating thermometry, and imaging capabilities.

Main Results:

• High-performance radio-luminescence with a low X-ray dose rate detection limit (min ≈156.1 nGy_airs^-1).
• Self-calibrating thermometry achieved with high absolute (6.74) and relative (8.1%K^-1) sensitivities.
• Excellent irradiation stability (intensity ≈100% at 368 K up to 215 Gy_air) and imaging resolution (max ≈18 lp mm^-1).

Conclusions:

• The developed Ln-MOFs scintillators offer a promising strategy for smart photonic materials with excellent scintillator performance.
• This approach enables accurate, self-calibrating in situ thermo-responsive X-ray imaging, overcoming limitations of traditional methods.