A team of researchers,jointly led by the University of Oxford(Oxford,UK; www.ox.ac.uk) and the University of Cambridge(Cambridge,UK;www.cam.ac.uk), has discovered that bismuth oxyiodide(BiOI), a material used in solar cells, can detect X-ray dose rates over 250 times lower than the best commercially used detectors.

This discovery could make medical imaging safer and pave the way for new non-invasive diagnostics,such as X-ray video thchniques.

The researchers are now working on increasing the size of BiOI detectors while maintaining the exceptional properties of single crystals in order to deliver the unique benefits of BiOI to society.

Image:BiOI ruby-like crystals can improve medical imaging safety by lowering intensities of harmful X-rays (Photo courtesy of University of Cambridge)