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Nano Research 2023, 16(2): 3339-3347 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-022-4998-7
Research Article | Issue | Published: 22 October 2022

Enhancing light yield of Tb3+-doped fluoride nanoscintillator with restricted positive hysteresis for low-dose high-resolution X-ray imaging

Show Author's Information Yi Cheng1,  Lei Lei1( ),  Wenjuan Zhu2,  Yubin Wang1,  Hai Guo3( ),  Shiqing Xu1( )
Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Optoelectronic Materials and Devices of Zhejiang Province, Institute of Optoelectronic Materials and Devices, China Jiliang University, Hangzhou 310018, China
College of Electronic and Optical Engineering and College of Flexible Electronics (Future Technology), Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Nanjing 210023, China
Department of Physics, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua 321004, China
Keywords:
high-resolution, low-dose, nanoscintillators, X-ray excited optical luminescence (XEOL) imaging, crystal level splitting
Topics:
Nanocrystalline materials
Cite this article:
Cheng Y, Lei L, Zhu W, et al. Enhancing light yield of Tb3+-doped fluoride nanoscintillator with restricted positive hysteresis for low-dose high-resolution X-ray imaging. Nano Research, 2023, 16(2): 3339-3347. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-022-4998-7
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Abstract Full text Electronic supplementary material About this article

Developing scintillators with high light yield (LY), superior irradiation stability, and weak afterglow is of significance for the realization of low-dose high-resolution X-ray excited optical luminescence (XEOL) imaging. Lanthanide doped fluoride nanoparticles possess low toxicity, superior environmental stability, facial fabrication process, and tunable emissions, which are appropriate candidates for the next generation nanoscintillators (NSs). However, the low LY and strong positive hysteresis greatly restrict their practical application. Here, we propose an effective strategy that engineers energy gap to significantly enhance the LY. Our results verify that the tetragonal LiLuF4 host benefits the crystal level splitting of Tb3+ ions, which greatly promotes the electrons population on the Tb3+:5D4 level followed by the enhanced LY. The LY of LiLuF4:Tb@LiLuF4 NSs is calculated to be ~ 31,169 photons/MeV, which is much higher than the lead halide perovskite colloidal CsPbBr3 (~ 21,000 photons/MeV) and LuAG:Ce (~ 22,000 photons/MeV) scintillators. Moreover, the positive hysteresis is remarkably restricted after coating a thin shell. The X-ray detection limit and spatial resolution are measured to be ~ 21.27 nGy/s and ~ 7.2 lp/mm, respectively. We further verify that this core/shell NS can be employed as scintillating screen to realize XEOL imaging under the low dose rate of 13.86 μGy/s. Our results provide an effective route to develop high performance NSs, which will promote great opportunities for the development of low-dose high-resolution XEOL imaging devices.


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Electronic supplementary material
About this article

Enhancing light yield of Tb3+-doped fluoride nanoscintillator with restricted positive hysteresis for low-dose high-resolution X-ray imaging

Show Author's information Yi Cheng1, Lei Lei1( ), Wenjuan Zhu2, Yubin Wang1, Hai Guo3( ), Shiqing Xu1( )
Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Optoelectronic Materials and Devices of Zhejiang Province, Institute of Optoelectronic Materials and Devices, China Jiliang University, Hangzhou 310018, China
College of Electronic and Optical Engineering and College of Flexible Electronics (Future Technology), Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Nanjing 210023, China
Department of Physics, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua 321004, China

Abstract

Developing scintillators with high light yield (LY), superior irradiation stability, and weak afterglow is of significance for the realization of low-dose high-resolution X-ray excited optical luminescence (XEOL) imaging. Lanthanide doped fluoride nanoparticles possess low toxicity, superior environmental stability, facial fabrication process, and tunable emissions, which are appropriate candidates for the next generation nanoscintillators (NSs). However, the low LY and strong positive hysteresis greatly restrict their practical application. Here, we propose an effective strategy that engineers energy gap to significantly enhance the LY. Our results verify that the tetragonal LiLuF4 host benefits the crystal level splitting of Tb3+ ions, which greatly promotes the electrons population on the Tb3+:5D4 level followed by the enhanced LY. The LY of LiLuF4:Tb@LiLuF4 NSs is calculated to be ~ 31,169 photons/MeV, which is much higher than the lead halide perovskite colloidal CsPbBr3 (~ 21,000 photons/MeV) and LuAG:Ce (~ 22,000 photons/MeV) scintillators. Moreover, the positive hysteresis is remarkably restricted after coating a thin shell. The X-ray detection limit and spatial resolution are measured to be ~ 21.27 nGy/s and ~ 7.2 lp/mm, respectively. We further verify that this core/shell NS can be employed as scintillating screen to realize XEOL imaging under the low dose rate of 13.86 μGy/s. Our results provide an effective route to develop high performance NSs, which will promote great opportunities for the development of low-dose high-resolution XEOL imaging devices.

Keywords: high-resolution, low-dose, nanoscintillators, X-ray excited optical luminescence (XEOL) imaging, crystal level splitting

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Publication history
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Acknowledgements

Publication history

Received: 26 July 2022
Revised: 30 August 2022
Accepted: 31 August 2022
Published: 22 October 2022
Issue date: February 2023

Copyright

© Tsinghua University Press 2022

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (No. LZ21A040002), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 52172164 and 51872270), the National Natural Science Foundation of China Joint Fund Project (No. U190920054), and the Project funded by China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No. 2022T150582).

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