Flexible, wearable X-ray detector doesn't require heavy metals

X-ray imaging is a fast and painless way for doctors to see inside a person. But radiation detectors, which go under the body part being imaged, are rigid panels that contain harmful heavy metals, such as lead and cadmium. Now, researchers in ACS' Nano Letters report a proof-of-concept wearable X-ray detector prepared from nontoxic metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) layered between flexible plastic and gold electrodes for high-sensitivity sensing and imaging.