Thermal-Adaptive Photonic MOFs for High-Performance X-ray Scintillator

Abstract

Dynamic responsive scintillating materials play a significant role in advanced radiation detection technology. However, the issues such as thermal quenching, uncontrollable structure, and unsatisfactory cost, still remain obstacles to the diversified development of recent scintillators. Herein, a strategy is proposed by assembling well-designed inorganic and organic building units with low cost to construct a series of novel lanthanide MOFs for thermal-adaptive X-ray scintillators (TAXS). Based on the delicate energy level design, the as-obtained TAXS present ultra-high relative light yield (max ≈49 700 photons MeV⁻¹), tunable luminescence (from green to red band), and low dose rate detection limit (min ≈118.7 nGy_airs⁻¹). Importantly, these TAXS exhibit unique thermal-adaptive behaviors including thermal-facilitated metal-ligand distance contraction and X-ray-induced carrier generation, resulting in obvious enhanced radio-luminescence. They maintain perfect linear response to X-ray (R² > 99.8%) and excellent stability (>95% after 215 Gy_air X-ray irradiation) during heat treatment. Both TAXS-based membranes with high imaging resolution (max ≈24 lp mm⁻¹) and inks for customizable printing demonstrate the potential to work normally at elevated temperatures. Such a strategy supports photonic functional MOFs to fabricate high-performance scintillators for harsh condition services.