Demonstrates enhanced self-healing and imaging clarity in elastomer scintillators, indicating significant advances in CT technology.
High-resolution computed tomography (CT) is indispensable for noninvasive diagnostics. However, X-/γ-ray scintillators are fragile and easily damaged during the complex pixelation required to achieve maximum light output. Here, we report a large-area (43 × 30 cm 2 ) composite elastomer scintillator fabricated via low-cost solution processes for durable CT imagers. Synergistic dynamic covalent and noncovalent bonds enable efficient, thermally assisted self-healing of the composite film from diverse forms of damage (e.g., frost cracking, charring, scratching, and solvent swelling), thereby restoring >94% of its initial radioluminescence. Remarkably, this recovery is highly sustainable, with negligible radioluminescence degradation even after multiple damage-healing cycles. Furthermore, the composite film achieves ultrahigh spatial resolutions of 188.7 lp/cm (MTF = 0.2) and 235.2 lp/cm (MTF = 0.1) at a low effective dose of 0.33 mSv. This combination of robustness and high resolution contributes to processing fault tolerance, cost control, and enhancing imaging clarity.
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Hu et al. (2026) studied this question.
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