Metal

Detector

Uranium

Radiation resistance

Materials science

Chromatography

Radiation

Scintillator

Nuclear physics

Uranyl

Center (category theory)

Radiochemistry

Radiative transfer

Scintillation

Physics

Organic chemistry

Optics

Luminescence

Attenuation

Analytical Chemistry (journal)

Crystallography

Chemistry

X-ray

Optoelectronics

Angewandte Chemie International Edition

The combination of high atomic number and high oxidation state in U VI materials gives rise to both high X‐ray attenuation efficiency and intense green luminescence originating from ligand‐to‐metal charge transfer. These two features suggest that U VI materials might act as superior X‐ray scintillators, but this postulate has remained substantially untested. Now the first observation of intense X‐ray scintillation in a uranyl–organic framework ( SCU‐9 ) that is observable by the naked eye is reported. Combining the advantage in minimizing the non‐radiative relaxation during the X‐ray excitation process over those of inorganic salts of uranium, SCU‐9 exhibits a very efficient X‐ray to green light luminescence conversion. The luminescence intensity shows an essentially linear correlation with the received X‐ray intensity, and is comparable with that of commercially available CsI:Tl. SCU‐9 possesses an improved X‐ray attenuation efficiency ( E &gt;20 keV) as well as enhanced radiation resistance and decreased hygroscopy compared to CsI:Tl.

Emergence of Uranium as a Distinct Metal Center for Building Intrinsic X‐ray Scintillators