Fast and high-resolution x-ray imaging demands scintillator films with negligible afterglow, high scintillation yield, and minimized cross-talk. However, grain boundaries (GBs) are abundant in polycrystalline scintillator film, and, for current inorganic scintillators, detrimental dangling bonds at GBs inevitably extend radioluminescence lifetime and increase nonradiative recombination loss, deteriorating afterglow and scintillation yield. Here, we demonstrate that scintillators with one-dimensional (1D) crystal structure, Cs5Cu3Cl6I2 explored here, possess benign GBs without dangling bonds, yielding nearly identical afterglow and scintillation yield for single crystals and polycrystalline films. Because of its 1D crystal structure, Cs5Cu3Cl6I2 films with desired columnar morphology are easily obtained via close space sublimation, exhibit negligible afterglow (0.1% at 10 ms) and high scintillation yield (1.2 times of CsI:Tl). We have also demonstrated fast x-ray imaging with 27 line pairs mm-1 resolution and frame rate up to 33 fps, surpassing most existing scintillators. We believe that the 1D scintillators can greatly boost x-ray imaging performance.
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
A highly prospective drug for the X-ray induced photodynamic therapy (PDTX), LuAG:Pr3+@SiO2-PpIX nanocomposite, was successfully prepared by a three step process: photo-induced precipitation of the Lu3Al5O12:Pr3+(LuAG:Pr3+) core, sol-gel technique for amorphous silica coating, and a biofunctionalization by attaching the protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) molecules. The synthesis procedure provides three-layer nanocomposite with uniform shells covering an intensely luminescent core. Room temperature radioluminescence (RT RL) spectra as well as photoluminescence (RT PL) steady-state and time resolved spectra of the material confirm the non-radiative energy transfer from the core Pr3+ions to the PpIX outer layer. First, excitation of Pr3+ions results in the red luminescence of PpIX. Second, the decay measurements exhibit clear evidence of mentioned non-radiative energy transfer (ET). The singlet oxygen generation in the system was demonstrated by the 3'-(p-aminophenyl) fluorescein (APF) chemical probe sensitive to the singlet oxygen presence. The RT PL spectra of an X-ray irradiated material with the APF probe manifest the formation of singlet oxygen due to which enhanced luminescence around 530 nm is observed. Quenching studies, using NaN3as an1O2inhibitor, also confirm the presence of1O2in the system and rule out the parasitic reaction with OH radicals. To summarize, presented features of LuAG:Pr3+@SiO2-PpIX nanocomposite indicate its considerable potential for PDTX application.
A systematic study of photothermally stimulated defects creation processes is carried out by the thermally stimulated luminescence (TSL) method for a large number of undoped and doped PbWO4 crystals under irradiation at 80-180 K in the 3.4-4.3 eV energy range. The activation energy Ea for the regular exciton state disintegration is found to be approximately 0.1 eV. For defect-related states disintegration, Ea varies in the crystals studied from 0.03 to 0.36 eV. The origin of the defect-related states is discussed. The conclusion is made that not only a release of charge carriers but also charge transfer processes take place under UV irradiation of PbWO4 crystals.
