Confinement of methylammonium lead bromide nanocrystals in metal–organic frameworks as a stable scintillator for high-performance X-ray imaging

The development of perovskite nanocrystals (NCs) based composites with enhanced stability and exceptional photoelectric properties is of great significance for their application in scintillators for X-ray imaging, but it remains challenging. Herein, we demonstrate a novel and stable scintillator, achieved through a host–guest strategy involving the confinement of perovskite NCs, e.g., MAPbBr3 NCs, in metal–organic frameworks (MOFs). The host MOF, bio-MOF-100 (denoted as bMOF), facilitates the in-situ space-confined formation of MAPbBr3 NCs while providing quantum confinement, surface passivation, and protection to these guests. This host–guest strategy results in high exciton binding energy, bright and efficient luminescence, and significantly enhancing their stability against various factors such as air, heat, UV, solvents and X-ray irradiation. Consequently, this advancement prompts the transition of their application scenarios from the colloidal state to the solid state. The bMOF⊃MAPbBr3 scintillator exhibits a linear response to X-ray with a detection limit determined to be 170 nGyair s−1. Moreover, the bMOF⊃MAPbBr3–PMMA scintillator screen demonstrates high-quality X-ray imaging with an impressive spatial resolution of 14.7 lp mm−1. This work provides a new avenue for the development of perovskite NCs-based host–guest composites and paves the way for the broader implementation in solid-state optoelectronic applications.