Perovskite nanocrystal doped all-inorganic glass for X-ray scintillators

Abstract

Radiation detectors require scintillator materials combining high light yield, short light decay time and high stability. Metal halide perovskite nanocrystals (PNC) with heavy atoms have demonstrated excellent luminescent efficiency and short emission lifetime, which perfectly match the requirements of X-ray scintillators. However, the poor stability of PNC restricts its applications. Here we report stable CsPbBr₃ NCs generated in an all-inorganic glass matrix by controlled crystallization. The transparent composite materials demonstrated good luminescence centered at ∼520 nm as well as excellent stability towards water and heat (250 °C in the air) due to the protection role of inorganic glass. The high refractive index of the inorganic glass matrix enhanced the radiative transition rates. With all these features, the PNC glass-ceramic demonstrated good X-ray response and fast decay. The emission intensity of PNC glass-ceramic was half that of the commercial scintillating material Bi₄Ge₃O₁₂ (BGO) under X-ray irradiation (50 kV) and the decay time (15.2 ns) was one twentieth that of BGO. The excellent performance and the high stability as well as the easily processable nature of glass samples make these composite materials promising candidates for various X-ray detection scenarios such as remote X-ray detection using scintillating glass fibers.