Research Progress in X-ray Imaging of Metal Halide Scintillator Films

X-ray imaging has widespread demands in the fields of nuclear radiation safety，nondestructive testing，security inspection，and medical diagnosis. However，traditional scintillation single crystals have been impeded by high cost and time-consuming process，limited size，and intrinsic brittleness，which leads to extreme difficulty in achieving efficient and flexible X-ray imaging. In contrast，scintillator films based on metal halide nanocrystals/microcrystals have significant advantages such as simple fabrication，large area，flexible deformation，and efficient luminescence，providing a huge potential for X-ray imaging applications. In this work，the X-ray imaging research progress of metal halide scintillator films has been reviewed in detail in recent years. Firstly，according to whether the metal halide nanocrystal/microcrystal is synthesized individually or not，the preparation strategies of scintillator films have been generalized into two categories：crystal composite strategy and in-situ crystallization strategy，the advantages and disadvantages of which have been further analyzed in comparison. Secondly，the luminescence mechanism of metal halide crystals has been investigated，which has been utilized to improve the luminescence performances of scintillator films，gathering the effective methods for increasing the luminescence efficiency of scintillator films. Furthermore，various performances related to X-ray imaging of metal halide scintillator films have been further summarized，mainly including spatial resolution，flexibility，stability，and self-healing. Finally，the summarization and prospect have been put forward according to the current performances of scintillator films. © 2024 Editorial Office of Chinese Optics. All rights reserved.