Organic Phosphonium Chloride Engineering in Sb(III)-Based Hybrid Halides for High-Spatial Resolution X-ray Imaging

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Solid-State Chemistry
• Photonics

Background:

• Zero-dimensional (0D) lead-free hybrid halides are promising for X-ray imaging due to their structural diversity and optical properties.
• Efficient emission in these materials requires fine structural modulation of organic components, which remains insufficiently understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the impact of introducing chlorine (Cl) atoms into organic phosphonium structures.
• To modulate the structure and luminescence of 0D antimony (Sb(III))-based hybrid halides.
• To enhance their performance as X-ray scintillators.

Main Methods:

• Synthesis of three novel Sb(III)-based hybrid halides incorporating Cl atoms into bulky aromatic rings.
• Characterization of their structural configurations and luminescence behaviors.
• Evaluation of their X-ray scintillator performance, including light yield, detection limit, and spatial resolution.

Main Results:

• The synthesized materials exhibit diverse Sb-Cl polyhedral configurations and tunable emissions.
• A peak photoluminescence quantum yield of 97.67% was achieved.
• Exceptional X-ray scintillator performance was demonstrated, with a light yield of 42,000 photons/MeV, a low detection limit of 20.9 nGy/s, and high spatial resolution up to 13.1 lp/mm.

Conclusions:

• Introducing Cl atoms effectively modulates the structure-luminescence relationship in 0D Sb(III)-based hybrid halides.
• These findings advance the development of lead-free hybrid halides for high-performance X-ray imaging applications.
• The study provides a pathway for designing advanced materials for X-ray detection technologies.