Scintillation performance of two-dimensional perovskite (BA)2PbBr4 microcrystals

Abstract

Radiation detection based on scintillators is widely utilized for medical diagnosis and security checks. Recently, two-dimensional (2D) halide perovskites have been demonstrated as highly promising scintillators due to their high exciton binding energy, their moisture stability and low-temperature fabrication. Herein, a solution temperature-lowering (STL) growth method is used to fabricate 2D butylammonium lead bromide (BA₂PbBr₄) perovskite microcrystals. The BA₂PbBr₄ microcrystals exhibit a highly competitive radioluminescence emission at 427 nm, a fast decay time of 2.52 ns, a low detectable limit of 318.3 nGy_air per s, a moderate light yield of about 7000 photons per MeV and outstanding moisture stability. Additionally, it is of note that the light yield of BA₂PbBr₄ microcrystals is sixfold higher than that of the plastic scintillator EJ228 under alpha excitation. These results indicate that BA₂PbBr₄ microcrystals show great potential as a versatile scintillator.