Work

All-inorganic lattice-contracted fabric image sensors for extreme-temperature radiography

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Conventional X‑ray sensing fails in extreme temperatures due to a fundamental trilemma: no material offers strong absorption, flexibility, and thermal stability simultaneously. Rigid inorganic scintillators exhibit thermal quenching above 450 K and cannot conform to curved surfaces, while flexible polymer-supported composites suffer from weak absorption and thermal degradation. We break this deadlock with an all-inorganic fabric scintillator (AIFS) enabled by a lattice contraction strategy that suppresses electron–phonon coupling and eliminates thermal quenching. AIFS maintains over 95% of its light output from 80 to 1373 K, tripling the operational limit of state-of-the-art X-ray sensors, while maintaining softness and achieving tenfold higher X‑ray absorption than polymer alternatives. We demonstrate real‑time monitoring of molten metals ( > 700 K) and superconducting magnets ( < 80 K), overcoming geometric mismatch, polymer degradation, and thermal drift. This work establishes a paradigm for shape‑adaptive imaging in extreme environments, from quantum devices to aerospace components. Achieving simultaneous flexibility, thermal stability and strong absorption in conventional X-ray sensors is challenging. Here, the authors develop an all-inorganic fabric X-ray sensor working from 80 K to 1373 K, enabling real-time imaging of molten metals and superconducting magnets.

Source: Nature Communications

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-026-71103-w