Cerium Doping Double Perovskite Scintillator for Sensitive X-ray Detection and Imaging

Scintillators are widely used for nondestructive testing, nuclear medicine imaging, space exploration and security inspection. Recently, lead halide perovskite scintillation crystals have been brought into focus due to their effective atomic number, fast scintillation decay time, strong luminous efficiency, and tunable band gap. However, their application is limited by lead toxicity. Here we report that Ce-doping can increase sensitivity in lead-free double perovskite crystals (Cs₂ NaTbCl₆ ) for X-ray detection and imaging. The introduction of Ce ions as sensitizer can be used to improve the radioluminescence of the crystals. The light output of Ce : Cs₂ NaTbCl₆ crystals is about 52153 ph/MeV, which is 25 % higher than that of un-doped crystal. The X-ray sensitivity is significantly enhanced. Based on our scintillation film X-ray detector the detection limit is 30 nGy ⋅ s^-1 , which is about 1/183 of the typical medical imaging dose. Our scintillating film has excellent imaging ability with spatial resolution of up to 10 lp/mm. This research shows that Ce : Cs₂ NaTbCl₆ perovskite crystal scintillators are promising materials for X-ray imaging application.