A pixelated liquid perovskite array for high-sensitivity and high-resolution X-ray imaging scintillation screens

Mingzhu Hu; Yumeng Wang; Shengpeng Hu; Zongpeng Wang; Bi Du; Yanjun Peng; Jiawei Yang; Yunjie Shi; Dongdong Chen; Xi Chen; Ziwen Zhuang; Zhixun Wang; Xi Chen; Jiecheng Yang; Yongshuai Ge; Eyu Wang; Quan Wen; Shuang Xiao; Ming Ma; Weimin Li; Jie Zhang; De Ning; Lei Wei; Chunlei Yang; Ming Chen

doi:10.1039/d3nr02841k

A pixelated liquid perovskite array for high-sensitivity and high-resolution X-ray imaging scintillation screens

Nanoscale. 2023 Oct 5;15(38):15635-15642. doi: 10.1039/d3nr02841k.

Authors

Mingzhu Hu^{1

2

3}, Yumeng Wang^{1

2}, Shengpeng Hu^{1

2}, Zongpeng Wang⁴, Bi Du⁴, Yanjun Peng^{1

2}, Jiawei Yang^{1

2}, Yunjie Shi¹, Dongdong Chen^{1

2}, Xi Chen^{1

2}, Ziwen Zhuang¹, Zhixun Wang⁵, Xi Chen^{1

6}, Jiecheng Yang^{7

8}, Yongshuai Ge^{7

8}, Eyu Wang⁹, Quan Wen⁹, Shuang Xiao¹⁰, Ming Ma^{1

6}, Weimin Li^{1

6}, Jie Zhang^{1

6}, De Ning^{1

6}, Lei Wei⁵, Chunlei Yang^{1

6}, Ming Chen^{1

6}

Affiliations

¹ Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518055, People's Republic of China. de.ning@siat.ac.cn.
² Department of Nano Science and Technology Institute, University of Science and Technology of China, Suzhou 215123, People's Republic of China.
³ School of Microelectronics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, People's Republic of China.
⁴ Shenzhen Angell Technology Co. Ltd, Shenzhen 518057, People's Republic of China.
⁵ School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, 639798, Singapore. wei.lei@ntu.edu.sg.
⁶ University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, People's Republic of China.
⁷ Paul C Lauterbur Research Center for Biomedical Imaging, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518055, China.
⁸ Research Center for Medical Artificial Intelligence, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518055, China.
⁹ Seamark Opticelectronic Technology (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd, Shenzhen, 518103, People's Republic of China.
¹⁰ Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Ultraintense Laser and Advanced Material Technology, Center for Advanced Material Diagnostic Technology, and College of Engineering Physics, Shenzhen Technology University, Shenzhen 518118, China.

PMID: 37721742
DOI: 10.1039/d3nr02841k

Abstract

Scintillators with high spatial resolution at a low radiation dose rate are desirable for X-ray medical imaging. A low radiation dose rate can be achieved using a sufficiently thick scintillator layer to absorb the incident X-ray energy completely, however, often at the expense of low spatial resolution due to the issue of optical crosstalk of scintillation light. Therefore, to achieve high sensitivity combined with high-resolution imaging, a thick scintillator with perfect light guiding properties is in high demand. Herein, a new strategy is developed to address this issue by embedding liquid scintillators into lead-containing fiber-optical plates (FOPs, n = 1.5) via the siphon effect. The liquid scintillator is composed of perovskite quantum dots (QDs)/2,5-diphenyloxazole (PPO) and the non-polar high-refractive index (n = 1.66) solvent α-bremnaphthalene. Benefiting from the pixelated and thickness-adjustable scintillators, the proposed CsPbBr₃ QDs/PPO liquid scintillator-based X-ray detector achieves a detection limit of 79.1 μGy s^-1 and a spatial resolution of 4.6 lp mm^-1. In addition, it displays excellent tolerance against radiation (>34 h) and shows outstanding stability under ambient conditions (>160 h). This strategy could also be applied to other liquid scintillators (such as CsPbCl₃ QDs and Mn:CsPbCl₃ QDs). The combination of high sensitivity, high spatial resolution and stability, easy fabrication and maintenance, and a reusable substrate matrix makes these liquid scintillators a promising candidate for practical X-ray medical imaging applications.