Molecularly Engineered Organic–Inorganic Hybrid Scintillators for Multi‐Form Transparent Screens

ABSTRACT High‐performance scintillators are essential for advanced radiation detection, yet their development is constrained by limitations in both material design and processing. Conventional approaches typically enable the preparation of only a single scintillator form (e.g., crystal, glass, or composite) from a given material system, thereby lacking the versatility needed to meet diverse application demands—such as mechanical flexibility for curved imaging, high light yield for low‐dose detection, and tunable emission for spectral analysis—with a single, scalable platform. Here, we report a rational molecular design strategy coupled with a unified melt‐processing platform. Through systematic engineering of A‐site pyridinium‐based cations in hybrid manganese bromides, we have achieved precise molecular‐level control over thermal properties and phase‐transition behavior. This control enables the direct fabrication of three distinct types of transparent scintillation screens from a single tunable material system: a flexible (1‐PrPy) 2 MnBr 4 ‐nylon (1‐PrPy = 1‐propylpyridinium) composite film for distortion‐free curved X‐ray imaging; a high‐light‐yield (1‐PentPy) 2 MnBr 4 (1‐PentPy = 1‐pentylpyridinium) ceramic screen enabling low‐dose radiography at an X‐ray total dose of 3.5 µGy; and a transparent bulk (1,4‐diBnPy) 2 MnBr 4 (1,4‐diBnPy = 1,4‐dibenzylpyridinium) glass with continuously tunable emission. This work establishes a versatile materials design and processing paradigm for developing application‐specific scintillators.

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Publication Details

Journal
Advanced Functional Materials
Published
2026-05-29
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.76100
Primary Topic
Radiation Detection and Scintillator Technologies
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Molecularly Engineered Organic–Inorganic Hybrid Scintillators for Multi‐Form Transparent Screens

J B Chen, Dai‐Bin Kuang, Zi‐Lin He, Jun‐Hua Wei et al.
Advanced Functional Materials
Radiation Detection and Scintillator Technologies
article

Molecularly Engineered Organic–Inorganic Hybrid Scintillators for Multi‐Form Transparent Screens

J B Chen, Dai‐Bin Kuang, Zi‐Lin He, Jun‐Hua Wei, Tianchi Wang, Jing‐Tong Zeng, Qing‐Peng Peng
article en

Abstract

ABSTRACT High‐performance scintillators are essential for advanced radiation detection, yet their development is constrained by limitations in both material design and processing. Conventional approaches typically enable the preparation of only a single scintillator form (e.g., crystal, glass, or composite) from a given material system, thereby lacking the versatility needed to meet diverse application demands—such as mechanical flexibility for curved imaging, high light yield for low‐dose detection, and tunable emission for spectral analysis—with a single, scalable platform. Here, we report a rational molecular design strategy coupled with a unified melt‐processing platform. Through systematic engineering of A‐site pyridinium‐based cations in hybrid manganese bromides, we have achieved precise molecular‐level control over thermal properties and phase‐transition behavior. This control enables the direct fabrication of three distinct types of transparent scintillation screens from a single tunable material system: a flexible (1‐PrPy) 2 MnBr 4 ‐nylon (1‐PrPy = 1‐propylpyridinium) composite film for distortion‐free curved X‐ray imaging; a high‐light‐yield (1‐PentPy) 2 MnBr 4 (1‐PentPy = 1‐pentylpyridinium) ceramic screen enabling low‐dose radiography at an X‐ray total dose of 3.5 µGy; and a transparent bulk (1,4‐diBnPy) 2 MnBr 4 (1,4‐diBnPy = 1,4‐dibenzylpyridinium) glass with continuously tunable emission. This work establishes a versatile materials design and processing paradigm for developing application‐specific scintillators.

Advanced Functional Materials
Sun Yat-sen University (CN), Institute of Molecular Functional Materials (CN)
National Natural Science Foundation of China
Industry, innovation and infrastructure
Openalex Percentile: Top 5%
Radiation Detection and Scintillator Technologies
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