Flexible X-ray detector made with lead-free materials performs well in early tests
Researchers have developed a flexible, wearable X-ray detector that contains no harmful heavy metals, sharing their work in the American Chemical Society’s Nano Letters journal.
The device, still in its proof-of-concept stage, was made using metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and flexible electrodes. Most X-ray detectors are stiff and awkward, the team explained, and many contain lead. With these new detectors, however, the goal was to demonstrate that MOFs free of heavy metals could be used to build a safe, effective flexible detector.
Early data suggest that these new devices hold great potential, researchers said. The MOF without lead appeared to be more sensitive, for instance, and the flexible structure demonstrated that it could hold up to heavy use without weakening.
“This work provides insights for next-generation green and high-performance flexible sensor detectors by utilizing MOF materials with the benefits of a designable structure and tunable property, demonstrating a proof-of-concept in wearable X-ray detectors for radiation monitoring and imaging,” wrote first author Zheng Li, of Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics in China, and colleagues.
The group’s full analysis is available here.
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