Tb³⁺-Doped Glass-Ceramic Scintillating Plates and Fibers for X-Ray Imaging and Flexible Detection

The development of flexible and wearable radiation detection technology is urgently needed for medical imaging, non-destructive testing, and personal dosimetry. Although bulk single-crystal and ceramic scintillators suffer from intrinsic brittleness and scalability issues, glass scintillators typically show limited light yield. To overcome these challenges, we have developed a Tb³⁺-doped oxyfluoride glass-ceramic scintillator via an integrated approach combining phase-diagram guidance and molecular dynamics simulations. Based on the controlled precipitation of Ba₂GdF₇ nanocrystals, the as-prepared glass-ceramic scintillator achieves a light yield of 41 800 photons/MeV (418% of BGO). It also achieves a high X-ray imaging spatial resolution of 25.3 lp/mm with large-area scintillating plates and demonstrates exceptional thermal quenching resistance. Leveraging the superior processability of the glass matrix, we further fabricated a flexible scintillation fiber for remote, highly sensitive radiation dosimetry. The fiber sensor exhibits a sensitivity of 224 nGy/s, stability over 240 on-off irradiation cycles, and excellent linearity (R² = 0.9999). This work not only presents a robust glass-ceramic scintillator material design strategy but also demonstrates its potential in next-generation distributed radiation detection systems using large-area scintillating plates and flexible glass fibers.