Lead-halide Cs 4 PbBr 6 single crystals for high-sensitivity radiation detection

Low-dimensional perovskite materials and their derivatives with excellent optical performance are promising candidates for light-emission applications. Herein, centimeter lead-halide Cs 4 PbBr 6 single crystals (SCs), which have been used for radiation detection with the indirect conversion method, were synthesized by a facile solution process. The Cs 4 PbBr 6 scintillator exhibits bright green emission peaking at 525 nm and a high photoluminescence quantum yield (up to 86.7%) under 375 nm laser excitation. The Cs 4 PbBr 6 SCs exhibit high sensitivity to 40 keV X-rays, with a favorable linearity with the X-ray exposure dose rate, and the detection limit is as low as 64.4 nGy air /s. The scintillation time-response performance of the Cs 4 PbBr 6 SCs was acquired by a time-correlated single-photon counting system under alpha-particle excitation. The Cs 4 PbBr 6 SCs exhibit a very fast time response ( τ av = 1.46 ns) to alpha particles from a 241 Am radiation source. This value is comparable to that of the commercial plastic scintillator EJ-228 ( τ av = 1.31 ns) and much faster than that of the LYSO(Ce) scintillator ( τ av = 36.17 ns). Conceptual X-ray imaging and alpha-particle pulse height spectroscopy experiments were also performed. These results demonstrated the potential of Cs 4 PbBr 6 SCs for radiation detection applications, including X-ray imaging and charged particle detection with fast scintillation decay time and high sensitivity.