Scattering-free lanthanide-ionic liquid scintillators for high-resolution and adaptive X-ray imaging.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 41285923.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-025-66754-0 and PMC identifier 12749822.
- Licence recorded as CC BY-NC-ND.
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Abstract
X-ray imaging requires effective light transmission through scintillation screens. However, solid or solution-based scintillators suffer from photon scattering and attenuation. While prior efforts have focused on improving light extraction in solid-state scintillators through nanostructuring or optical engineering, challenges remain in mitigating internal scattering losses. Here, we report a liquid scintillator-based strategy that eliminates light scattering by exploiting in-situ coordination between lanthanide ions and ionic liquid ligands. This coordination chemistry ensures high structural homogeneity and optical transparency. Combined with self-absorption-free lanthanides, this approach achieves over 93% scintillation light transmittance, boosting X-ray imaging spatial resolution to 26 lp mm<sup>-1</sup> within a 1 mm scintillation screen. Our scintillators exhibit long-term stability and environmental compatibility, leveraging the inherent properties of ionic liquids for sustained and biocompatible X-ray imaging. Their fluidic and shape-adaptive nature enables the development of convex and zoom scintillation lenses, facilitating uniform omni-angle X-ray detection and in-situ zoom X-ray imaging.