Tailoring the electron and hole dimensionality to achieve efficient and stable metal halide perovskite scintillators

Metal halide perovskites have recently been reported as excellent scintillators for X-ray detection. However, perovskite based scintillators are susceptible to moisture and oxygen atmosphere, such as the water solubility of CsPbBr3, and oxidation vulnerability of Sn2+, Cu+. The traditional metal halide scintillators (NaI: Tl, LaBr3, etc.) are also severely restricted by their high hygroscopicity. Here we report a new kind of lead free perovskite with excellent water and radiation stability, Rb2Sn1-x Te x Cl6. The equivalent doping of Te could break the in-phase bonding interaction between neighboring octahedra in Rb2SnCl6, and thus decrease the electron and hole dimensionality. The optimized Te content of 5% resulted in high photoluminescence quantum yield of 92.4%, and low X-ray detection limit of 0.7 mu Gy(air) s(-1). The photoluminescence and radioluminescence could be maintained without any loss when immersing in water or after 480,000 Gy radiations, outperforming previous perovskite and traditional metal halides scintillators.

Automated summary

The lead-free perovskite Rb2Sn1-x Te x Cl6 shows excellent water and radiation stability, with Te doping improving the photoluminescence and decreasing electron and hole dimensionality. This new material outperforms previous perovskite and traditional metal halide scintillators in terms of maintaining photoluminescence and radioluminescence under harsh conditions.