Strongly photoluminescent and radioluminescent copper(i) iodide hybrid materials made of coordinated ionic chains

Abstract

Scintillation-based X-ray detection has been widely used in various fields from medical diagnostics to security. In this study, we report four new CuI-based hybrid materials consisting of anionic inorganic chains coordinated to cationic ligands. Due to their unique bonding nature, these compounds demonstrate high stability, solution processability, and efficient photoluminescence with photoluminescence quantum yields (PLQYs) reaching ∼85%. Their X-ray scintillation properties are characterized by high light yield comparable to that of commercially available scintillators, an excellent linear response to the X-ray dose rate, a low detection limit, and radio-robustness. In addition, the emission mechanisms and structure–property relationships are also analyzed using both experimental and theoretical methods. These findings suggest possibilities for developing new and high-performance CuI-based hybrid materials for efficient radiation detection and imaging.