9 a.m., Wednesday, May 26
The last 2-3 years have seen a rapid development in the development of perovskite materials as radiation detectors. In particular, lead halide perovskites have many ideal properties for radiation detection applications, including the presence of high-Z atoms such as Cs and Pb for good X-ray and gamma ray efficiency, good charge transport and/or scintillation properties, and the ability to fabricate the materials using relatively straightforward solution processing methods. Lead halide perovskites have been used both as semiconductor ‘direct’ detectors [1,2], and also as ‘indirect’ scintillation detectors [3]. For direct detection the most rapid progress has been as X-ray imaging detectors, where perovskite detectors have demonstrated excellent x-ray sensitivity, stability, and imaging performance. There has been particularly strong activity from China in this area, with many groups reporting break-through results. The use of perovskites as energy-resolving gamma ray detectors is developing more slowly, although recent results using the highest quality single-crystal perovskites have shown mobility-lifetime products approaching values of 1×10-2 cm2/V and capable of high resolution gamma spectra from sources such as 137Cs. Recent results have also reported growth of perovskite crystals up to a kilogram in size [4]. Additionally, perovskite materials exhibit very high intensity radioluminescence, especially when synthesised as nanoparticles. A new class of perovskite-based nanocomposite scintillators have recently been developed with the potential to combine the benefits of large-volume plastic scintillators with the gamma spectroscopy performance of traditional inorganic scintillators.
In this review talk I will highlight the most significant recent results in perovskite radiation detectors across these various classes of devices, and comment on the future prospects for perovskite detectors as the technology becomes more mature.
References
[1] H. Wei et al., Sensitive X-ray detectors made of methylammonium lead tribromide perovskite single crystals, Nature Photonics 10 (2016) 333-339.
[2] W. Pan et al., Development of Halide Perovskite Single Crystal for Radiation Detection Applications. Frontiers in Chemistry 8 (2020) 268.
[3] Q. Chen et al., “All-inorganic perovskite nanocrystal scintillators”, Nature 561 (2018) 88-93.
[4] P. Andricevic et al., Kilogram-Scale Crystallogenesis of Halide Perovskites for Gamma-Rays Dose Rate Measurements, Advanced Science 8 (2021) 2001882.
Paul Sellin received his PhD in Nuclear Physics from University of Edinburgh (UK) in 1992 in the field of semiconductor nuclear detectors. His current research interests at the University of Surrey include the development and characterisation of radiation detectors and detector materials for applications in nuclear physics, medical imaging, and security detection. His research group focuses on the characterisation and development of new detector materials, including plastic and organic scintillators for mixed field neutron/gamma detection, including digital instrumentation and SiPM readout for neutron/gamma sensitive scintillators. Other interests include radiation-hard materials for extreme radiation applications where high dose rate and/or high temperature capability is required and the application of detector technology to nuclear security science, including new modalities for hazardous material detection and identification.