Advances in perovskite-based scintillation materials for gamma-ray spectroscopy: issues and opportunities

The accurate detection of radiation is crucial for assessing health risks, ensuring safety, and optimizing its use in various fields including medicine, industry, security, space exploration, and scientific research. As part of the exploration of novel detectors, this review considers the recent progress in halide perovskite scintillators derived from alkali and alkaline earth metal halides, covering high-to low-dimensional configurations. This review begins with the key figures of merit for scintillation and physics of radiation detection, followed by crystal growth techniques. Moreover, it provides a comprehensive overview of various energy ranges in gamma-ray spectroscopy research, emphasizing strategies including dimensional tuning, compositional engineering and use of activators to enhance the scintillator performance. This study reveals that low-dimensional perovskite scintillators generally outperform their higher-dimensional counterparts. Notably, 2D CsBa₂I₅:4% Eu demonstrated exceptional results with a light yield (LY) of 198 000 photons per MeV and an energy resolution (ER) of 1.8% at 1332 keV, which are much better than the values obtained for conventional scintillators. In addition, fine-tuning of the composition in the host structure and incorporating suitable dopants significantly contribute to improving the performance of scintillators. Finally, this investigation identifies certain limitations such as the challenges in crystal growth, limited structural and dopant variety, underreported stability and radiation hardness, and a predominant focus on specific gamma energies, particularly 662 keV. In addition, despite the long decay times of some scintillators, research has yet to fully utilize this advantageous property in imaging systems. Moreover, standardized testing protocols are essential to ensure the authentication of their performance all over the world. Future research should focus on addressing existing challenges to ease the transition of perovskite-based scintillators from laboratory to commercial use.