Publication date: 18th August 2023
Metal halide perovskites (MHPs) have shown excellent results in many applications, including X-ray scintillation detection. X-ray scintillation detectors based on MHPs have shown excellent light yield, but they mostly target applications with modest spatial resolution. Nanowires could offer improved sensitivity by exploiting nanophotonic light guiding, and the MHP stability could be improved by growing nanowires physically protected in anodized aluminum oxide (AAO). 3D imaging with tomography requires many projections andtherefore scintillators with excellent stability.
Here, we use a one-step solution low-temperature method to grow arrays of long single-crystalline CsPbBr3 nanowires in an AAO template. The diameters can be adjusted by the AAO template, ranging from 30 to 360 nm, and the length can be controlled up to 15 μm (Fig 1(a)) [1]. The CsPbBr3 nanowires in AAO (CsPbBr3 NW/AAO) show increasing X-ray scintillation efficiency with decreasing nanowire diameter, with a maximum photon yield of ∼5300 ph/MeV at 30 nm diameter. 2D X-ray images can distinguish line pairs with a spacing of 2 μm for all nanowire diameters, while slanted edge measurements show a spatial resolution of ∼160 lp/mm at modulation transfer function (MTF) = 0.1.
The nanowires show excellent stability, with no obvious lack in photoluminescence after months of storage in air. The X-ray scintillation shows no systematic degradation over 2 weeks of continuous X-ray exposure, but an unexpected positive and fully reversible correlation with room humidity. The excellent stability allowed tomographic 3D X-ray imaging at better than 3 μm resolution [2].