Successfully built the world's thinnest X-ray detector

The device is made from SnS nanosheets - an ultrathin material, with a thickness of only 10 nanometers - half the thickness of current X-ray devices and about 10,000 times thinner than 1 sheet of paper.

The SnS nanosheet allows efficient X-ray absorption. (Illustration).

According to the scientists, this is the first time this material has been used to make an X-ray detector . SnS nanosheets allow efficient X-ray absorption, allowing biologists to observe cell-cell interactions and processes with higher "temporal resolution" . Previously, scientists could only study the results of cell interactions, but could not observe the process in detail.

Professor Jacek Jasieniak of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Monash University, lead author of the study, said the device gives near-instant imaging. Unlike "hard" X-rays commonly used in medicine, especially for imaging fractures, "soft" X-rays are used to study the structure of biological samples at the nanoscale, such as tissue sample.

According to the researchers, more time is needed to discover the full potential of the device. As a next step, the team will test different thicknesses of the device in biological cell environments. The device helps to pave the way for the development of more advanced devices.

X-rays have helped bring about some of the greatest scientific discoveries made in the 20th century, including verifying the wave nature of photons, quantifying the structure of materials, and imaging tissues and structures. architecture inside a living organism.

The study was published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials.