Hybrid Eu(II)-bromide scintillators with efficient 5d-4f bandgap transition for X-ray imaging

Abstract

Luminescent metal halides are attracting growing attention as scintillators for X-ray imaging in safety inspection, medical diagnosis, etc. Here we present brand-new hybrid Eu(II)-bromide scintillators, 1D type [Et₄N]EuBr₃·MeOH and 0D type [Me₄N]₆Eu₅Br₁₆·MeOH, with spin-allowed 5d-4f bandgap transition emission toward simplified carrier transport during scintillation process. The 1D/0D structures with edge/face -sharing [EuBr₆]⁴⁻ octahedra further contribute to lowing bandgaps and enhancing quantum confinement effect, enabling efficient scintillation performance (light yield ~73100 ± 800 Ph MeV⁻¹, detect limit ~18.6 nGy s⁻¹, X-ray afterglow ~ 1% @ 9.6 μs). We demonstrate the X-ray imaging with 27.3 lp mm⁻¹ resolution by embedding Eu(II)-based scintillators into AAO film. Our results create the new family of low-dimensional rare-earth-based halides for scintillation and related optoelectronic applications.