Multiphase Transformation in Hybrid Copper(I)-Based Halides Enable Improved X-ray Scintillation and Real-Time Imaging

Crystal-glass phase transformation and glass recrystallization in zero-dimensional (0D) hybrid metal halides make them thriving in X-ray scintillators with the advantages of large-area fabrication and improved performance. Herein, we report three 0D hybrid copper(I) halides composed of identical organic cations and versatile self-assembly of copper-iodide anions and find that the volumes of inorganic anions groups are related to their lattice energies, which conformationally governed the thermodynamics of glass formation through lattice destabilization. A subsequent heating of glass counterparts allows the fabrication of hybrid bulk glass-ceramic via recrystallization, exhibiting outstanding X-ray scintillation performances (with a light yield of 64 000 ph MeV-1 and a detection limit of 72.6 nGy s(-1)) and high stability for real-time X-ray imaging (spatial resolution above 20 lp mm(-1)). This multiphase transformation strategy of luminescence metal halide opens an exploratory way in structural design and phase engineering of large-area halide scintillator screens for X-ray imaging.