Amine-Salt-Assisted Solution Crystallization of Inorganic Perovskite Single Crystals for High-Performance X-Ray...

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Crystallography
• Radiation Detection

Background:

• Inorganic perovskite CsPbCl3 single crystals (SCs) show promise for X-ray detection due to excellent properties.
• Current solution-growth methods yield small CsPbCl3 SCs (<1 mm) due to limited precursor solubility and growth techniques.
• This size limitation hinders their application in high-performance X-ray detectors.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop an effective strategy for growing larger, high-quality CsPbCl3 SCs.
• To improve the solubility of raw materials for enhanced crystal growth.
• To evaluate the performance of the grown CsPbCl3 SCs in X-ray detection applications.

Main Methods:

• An amine-salt-assisted solution crystallization strategy was employed.
• Hydrogen bond interactions were utilized to increase precursor solubility by 13-fold.
• The growth of CsPbCl3 SCs up to 15 mm was achieved.

Main Results:

• High-quality CsPbCl3 SCs with sizes up to 15 mm were successfully grown.
• The SCs exhibited excellent optoelectronic properties: high μτ product (6.3 × 10⁻³ cm² V⁻¹), low trap density (2.9 × 10¹⁰ cm⁻³), and high resistivity (1.7 × 10⁹ Ω cm).
• X-ray detectors fabricated from these SCs achieved record sensitivity (76,624 μC Gy⁻¹ cm⁻²) and a low detection limit (47.9 nGy s⁻¹), enabling high-contrast imaging.

Conclusions:

• The amine-salt-assisted strategy significantly enhances CsPbCl3 SC size and quality.
• The improved SCs demonstrate superior X-ray detection performance, including high sensitivity and low detection limits.
• This low-temperature solution method offers a promising pathway for developing cost-effective and safe radiation detection systems.