Multimaterial Fibers with Nanoemitters Enable Conformal X-ray Imaging with 3D Printed and Woven Scintillators

Multimaterial luminescent fibers featuring integrated organic, inorganic, or hybrid nanoemitters are essential elements within a multitude of photonic systems. These systems encompass critical applications, such as single photon sources, high-energy radiation and particle sensors, and wireless optical communication networks. However, the integration of highly efficient luminescent nanomaterials into fibers with predefined geometries, materials, and functionalities remains challenging. This work reports on a process for fabricating indefinitely long multimaterial polymer fibers that can be doped with different organic-inorganic hybrid emitters, such as Cs₃Cu₂I₅ nanoparticles, Cu₂I₂ nanoclusters, and Mn-doped Cs₄CdBi₂Cl₁₂ phosphors. This versatility allows for the creation of fibers with tunable emission colors, which enable the realization of large-area, high-performance scintillation surfaces by additive manufacturing, weaving, or rolling. These conformal scintillator screens have been used to demonstrate X-ray imaging of nonplanar complex shapes without the image distortion and resolution degradation associated with rigid planar scintillator configurations. Additive manufacturing of sophisticated three-dimensional scintillators with nanoemitters offers opportunities for personalized medical imaging platforms, particularly for breast cancer screening, as well as applications in large-area high-energy radiation and particle detection.