Solution-grown BiI/BiI₃ van der Waals heterostructures for sensitive X-ray detection

X-ray detectors must be operated at minimal doses to reduce radiation health risks during X-ray security examination or medical inspection, therefore requiring high sensitivity and low detection limits. Although organolead trihalide perovskites have rapidly emerged as promising candidates for X-ray detection due to their low cost and remarkable performance, these materials threaten the safety of the human body and environment due to the presence of lead. Here we present the realization of highly sensitive X-ray detectors based on an environmentally friendly solution-grown thick BiI/BiI₃/BiI (Bi_xI_y) van der Waals heterostructure. The devices exhibit anisotropic X-ray detection response with a sensitivity up to 4.3 × 10⁴ μC Gy^-1 cm^-2 and a detection limit as low as 34 nGy s^-1. At the same time, our Bi_xI_y detectors demonstrate high environmental and hard radiation stabilities. Our work motivates the search for new van der Waals heterostructure classes to realize high-performance X-ray detectors and other optoelectronic devices without employing toxic elements.