Heating revival of Cs3MnBr5 for anti-counterfeiting and large-area flexible X-ray imaging

Cesium manganese bromide metal halide has great potential in the field of X-ray imaging and anti-counterfeiting due to its excellent optoelectronic properties. Here, Cs3MnBr5 was successfully prepared by a simple method. Uniquely a novel phenomenon based on H2O induced color change was discovered, Cs3MnBr5 can recover from aqueous solution more than 10 times under heating, which can be used in fluorescent anti-counterfeiting applications. Furthermore, Cs3MnBr5@PDMS, prepared by the PDMS composite strategy, has been demonstrated to exhibit a stability that is 20 times greater than that of Cs3MnBr5. Simultaneously, the light yield of Cs3MnBr5 is evaluated to be 21688 photons/MeV. Furthermore, it has been successfully applied in non-destructive detection and biological imaging and the spatial resolution can be restored to 10 lp mm−1. •A convenient and environmentally friendly process has been used to synthesize Cs3MnBr5, which exhibits fluorescence transition in the air.•The revival of Cs3MnBr5 exhibits more than 10 cyclic properties. Based on this cyclic behavior, its potential anti-counterfeiting application is demonstrated.•An environmentally friendly scintillation screen for X-ray imaging is prepared using Cs3MnBr5 and PDMS, and it is successfully applied in the field of non-destructive detection and biological imaging.