Lithium-doped two-dimensional perovskite scintillator for wide-range radiation detection

Aozhen Xie (1, 2) , Chathuranga Hettiarachchi (2) , Francesco Maddalena (1) , Marcin Witkowski (3) , Michal Makowski (3) , Winicjusz Drozdowski (3) , Arramel Arramel (4) , Andrew Wee (4) , Stuart Victor Springham (5) , Phan Quoc Vuong (6) , Hong Joo Kim (6) , Christophe Dujardin (7) , Philippe Coquet (1, 2, 8) , Muhammad Danang Birowosuto (1, 2) , Cuong Dang (1, 2)

1 CINTRA - CNRS International - NTU - Thales Research Alliance
2 Nanyang Technological University [Singapour]
3 Faculty of Physics, Astronomy and Informatics [Toruń]
4 Department of Physics (Singapore)
5 Natural Sciences and Science Education
6 KNU - Kyungpook National University [Daegu]
7 iLM - LUMINESCENCE - iLM - Luminescence
8 IEMN - Institut d’Électronique, de Microélectronique et de Nanotechnologie - UMR 8520

Two-dimensional lead halide perovskites have demonstrated their potential as high-performance scintillators for X- and gamma-ray detection, while also being low-cost. Here we adopt lithium chemical doping in two-dimensional phenethylammonium lead bromide (PEA)₂PbBr₄ perovskite crystals to improve the properties and add functionalities with other radiation detections. Li doping is confirmed by X-ray photoemission spectroscopy and the scintillation mechanisms are explored via temperature dependent X-ray and thermoluminescence measurements. Our 1:1 Li-doped (PEA)₂PbBr₄ demonstrates a fast decay time of 11 ns (80%), a clear photopeak with an energy resolution of 12.4%, and a scintillation yield of 11,000 photons per MeV under 662 keV gamma-ray radiation. Additionally, our Li-doped crystal shows a clear alpha particle/gamma-ray discrimination and promising thermal neutron detection through ⁶Li enrichment. X-ray imaging pictures with (PEA)₂PbBr₄ are also presented. All results demonstrate the potential of Li-doped (PEA)₂PbBr₄ as a versatile scintillator covering a wide radiation energy range for various applications.

Domaines: Sciences de l'ingénieur [physics]; Chimie; Physique [physics]

Aozhen Xie, Chathuranga Hettiarachchi, Francesco Maddalena, Marcin Witkowski, Michal Makowski, et al.. Lithium-doped two-dimensional perovskite scintillator for wide-range radiation detection. Communications Materials, 2020, 1 (34), ⟨10.1038/s43246-020-0038-x⟩. ⟨hal-03142402⟩