Geomorphology

Optics

Physics

Geology

Engineering

X-ray detector

Perovskite (structure)

Nanotechnology

Halide

Organic chemistry

Inorganic chemistry

Chemistry

Materials science

Crystallization

Lead (geology)

X-ray

Chemical engineering

Optoelectronics

Thermal stability

Nucleation

Crystallography

Detector

Nature Communications

The organic-inorganic hybrid lead halide perovskites have emerged as a series of star materials for solar cells, lasers and detectors. However, the issues raised by the toxic lead element and marginal stability due to the volatile organic components have severely limited their potential applications. In this work, we develop a nucleation-controlled solution method to grow large size high-quality Cs 3 Bi 2 I 9 perovskite single crystals (PSCs). Using the technique, we harvest some centimeter-sized single crystals and achieved high device performance. We find that X-ray detectors based on PSCs exhibit high sensitivity of 1652.3 μC Gy air −1 cm −2 and very low detectable dose rate of 130 nGy air s −1 , both desired in medical diagnostics. In addition, its outstanding thermal stability inspires us to develop a high temperature X-ray detector with stable response at up to 100 °C. Furthermore, PSCs exhibit high X-ray imaging capability thanks to its negligible signal drifting and extremely high stability.

Nucleation-controlled growth of superior lead-free perovskite Cs3Bi2I9 single-crystals for high-performance X-ray detection