Surface-defect-passivation-enabled near-unity charge collection efficiency in bromide-based perovskite gamma-ray spectrum devices

Hybrid lead halide perovskites have superior charge transport properties to all-inorganic perovskites, but high-resolution spectroscopic radiation detectors have not been realized. Here we show that surface deep traps severely limit charge collection in formamidinium lead bromide (FAPbBr 3 ) single-crystal devices, despite having a good bulk transport property. Three types of defect on the crystal surface, namely, FA vacancies, uncoordinated lead and Pb–Pb dimers caused by bromide loss, are found to form deep traps, resulting in non-radiative charge recombinations at the metal/perovskite interface. By tailoring the passivation functional groups, we find that ammonium bromide can passivate all these three deep traps on FAPbBr 3 surfaces, improving the charge collection efficiency to near unity. The comparable bulk and surface recombination lifetimes indicate that all the surface defects are effectively passivated. Surface passivation also reduces the dark current by 10 times and decreases the dark counts by ~60 times. The energy resolution of the 137 Cs spectra acquired using the FAPbBr 3 detectors is improved from 5.7% to 1.7% when all the surface defects are passivated without changing the bulk properties, which is the best among solution-grown semiconductor detectors. Surface passivation is stable for more than six months, and FAPbBr 3 spectroscopic detectors can operate at unprecedented high temperatures of more than 130 °C.