Novel materials and devices for photon and ionizing radiation detection

Andrea Ciavatti

Andrea Ciavatti is Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy of University of Bologna (Italy). He received his PhD in Physics (2015) working on organic semiconducting crystals. He was Visiting Scientist at University of Surrey (UK, 2013) and ETH Zurich (CH, 2014) and worked at the NEST Laboratory (Pisa, IT). He is an associate of the Italian Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN). His research focuses on the electrical and photonic characterization of advanced materials, with particular emphasis on flexible and large-area sensors for ionizing radiation based on organic and hybrid perovskite materials, targeting medical and space applications.

Francesca Cova

Francesca Cova is assistant professor at the Department of Materials Science of the University of Milano – Bicocca (Italy). She earned her PhD in Materials Science and Nanotechnology in 2020. Her research interests focus on new, fast, and radiation hard scintillating materials, with special attention to emerging technologies such as nanostructures and nanocomposites, including perovskites nanocrystals, semiconductor nanoplatelets and metal–organic frameworks. Besides, the focus of her research is on the presence of defect-related phenomena to unveil their role in the scintillation process and their influence on the performance of scintillating materials, to guide the optimization of scintillating devices.

Michele Sessolo

Michele Sessolo is Associate Professor in the Department of Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Valencia and a senior researcher at the Institute for Molecular Science (ICMol). He obtained his degree in Chemistry from the University of Padova in 2006 and his MSc and PhD from the University of Valencia in 2010, working on organic light-emitting diodes. He was a Marie Curie Fellow at the École des Mines de Saint-Étienne, working on organic bioelectronics. His recent research focuses on vapor-phase processing of perovskite semiconductors and the development of perovskite-based photodetectors and radiation sensors, spanning thin-film and monolithic device architectures.

The detection of photons and ionizing radiation underpins a wide range of technologies spanning medical diagnostics, security screening, high-energy physics, space science, and nondestructive evaluation. Continued progress in these areas critically depends on the development of materials that combine high sensitivity, fast response, stability, and scalable processability. In recent years, organic semiconductors, metal halide perovskites, and emerging scintillating materials have attracted intense interest owing to their tunable optoelectronic properties, compositional versatility, and compatibility with low-cost fabrication methods.

This themed issue of Journal of Materials Chemistry C, entitled Novel materials and devices for photon and ionizing radiation detection, brings together recent advances that highlight how molecular design, crystal and nanostructure engineering, and device integration strategies can be leveraged to improve radiation detection performance. Collectively, the contributions illustrate the rapidly evolving landscape of scintillators and radiation-sensitive materials, while also pointing toward new opportunities enabled by hybrid and low-dimensional systems.

A unifying focus of this collection is the exploration of organics, perovskites, and scintillating materials as active components for the detection of photons and ionizing radiation. Through careful control of composition, dimensionality, interfaces, and morphology, these materials can exhibit high light yield, efficient charge transport, carrier dynamics, and enhanced stability under operating conditions relevant to practical devices.

The articles in this themed issue address both fundamental and applied aspects of radiation detection, including structure–property relationships governing scintillation efficiency, charge transport under high-energy excitation, and processing routes that enable uniform, large-area detector architectures. Together, they underscore the importance of integrating materials chemistry with device engineering to translate intrinsic material properties into robust detector performance.

Highlights from the collection

The themed collection presents a selection of representative articles highlighting the key attributes for radiation detection discussed above, spanning the different detection strategies. These include the direct conversion of high-energy radiations into electrical signals, conversion into visible light through scintillation, and the material tailoring required for infrared photodetection.

Several representative contributions from this themed issue illustrate this breadth of approaches. J. Král et al.¹ report a strategy to functionalize CsPbBr₃ nanocrystals with enhanced thermal stability, enabling their incorporation into polymer nanocomposites for scintillator applications. By optimizing surface chemistry, the work demonstrates improved dispersion and retention of scintillation performance within the polymer matrix, addressing key challenges associated with processability and operational stability of perovskite-based scintillators.

The study of L. Zhou et al.² investigates one-dimensional DABCO–NH₄I₃ perovskites, revealing how anisotropic carrier transmission influences X-ray detection efficiency. Through detailed analysis of directional charge transport, the authors provide valuable insight into the role of structural anisotropy in radiation response, highlighting the potential of low-dimensional perovskites as tunable platforms for next-generation direct X-ray detectors.

In a complementary approach, M. Wu et al.³ present organic–inorganic manganese bromide scintillator films exhibiting near-unity emission efficiency. Using a suction filtration method, the authors fabricate uniform films that enable high-resolution X-ray imaging, demonstrating a scalable route toward efficient scintillator layers suitable for practical imaging applications.

These studies exemplify how advances in materials design and processing can directly translate into improved performance metrics for photon and ionizing radiation detection.

The contributions assembled in this themed issue reflect the growing maturity and diversification of materials platforms for radiation detection. Continued progress will depend on addressing challenges related to long-term stability, large-area fabrication, and integration with readout electronics, while maintaining high sensitivity and resolution. The synergy between organic materials, perovskites, and emerging scintillators shown here suggests that hybrid and composite strategies will play an increasingly important role in overcoming these challenges.

We anticipate that this themed issue will stimulate further interdisciplinary research and serve as a useful reference for scientists and engineers working at the interface of materials chemistry, photonics, and radiation detection technologies.

References

1. J. Král, K. Děcká, P. Liška, S. Rojas Torres, J. Valenta, V. Babin, I. L. Monzón, V. Čuba, E. Mihóková and E. Auffray, J. Mater. Chem. C, 2026 10.1039/D5TC03614C.
2. L. Zhou, M. Xu, J. Geng, Y. Shi, Z. Song, Y. Liu, H. Yua and M. Zhu, J. Mater. Chem. C, 2025, 13, 19226–19234.
3. M. Wu, J. Lai, Y. Pu, Z. Wang, F. Kuang, Y. Zhou, K. An, S. Cao, B. Sun, Z. Liu, J. Du, H. Luo, P. He and X. Tang, J. Mater. Chem. C, 2025, 13, 11764–11775.

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