Aggregation-induced emission organic metal halide complex for X-ray scintillation

Abstract

The expanding applications of X-ray scintillation across various areas, from healthcare to security detection call for the development of new-generation scintillators that offer enhanced sensitivity, efficiency, and versatility. Here, we report for the first time the use of organic metal halide complexes with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) for X-ray scintillation, which can be facilely synthesized and processed in the solution phase. By reacting an AIE organic molecule, 4-(4-(diphenylamino) phenyl)-1-(propyl)-pyridinium (TPA-PD) with zinc chloride (ZnCl₂) in solution at room temperature, an organic metal halide complex, (TPA-PD)₂ZnCl₂, is produced with a high synthetic yield of 87%. Optical and radioluminescence characterizations find that (TPA-PD)₂ZnCl₂ exhibits bluish-green photoluminescence and radioluminescence peaked at around 450 nm, with a photoluminescence quantum efficiency (PLQE) of 65%, and an absolute light yield of 13 423 Photon per MeV. Moreover, short photoluminescence and radioluminescence decay lifetimes are recorded at 1.81 ns and 5.24 ns, respectively. For X-ray scintillation, an excellent response dose–response linearity and a low limit of detection of 80.23 nGy_air S⁻¹ are obtained for (TPA-PD)₂ZnCl₂. By taking advantage of the high X-ray absorption of metal halides and fast radioluminescence of AIE molecules, our design of covalently bonded organic metal halide complexes opens up new opportunities for the development of high-performance solution-processable scintillators.