A bulk Schottky junction for high-sensitivity portable radiation detectors.

Zhang, Yihan; Huang, Zongming; Peng, Chenchen; Gao, Ning; Xu, Xie George; Li, Yaping; Zheng, Cheng; Chen, Wenjing et al. · Nat Commun · 2024

basic_science · Level V

Where this comes from

Abstract

The thickness of X-ray detectors needs to reach hundreds of micrometers to absorb X-ray, and therefore, high voltages over tens or hundreds of volts should be applied to extract X-ray-generated carriers. Here, we propose a bulk Schottky junction for X-ray detection using interpenetrated macroporous-carbon electrodes and metal-halide perovskite networks. The X-ray-generated holes are extracted by the macroporous-carbon electrodes under the built-in electric field, while the electrons in the perovskite phase result in a high gain effect. A high sensitivity of 1.42×10<sup>5</sup> μC Gy<sub>air</sub><sup>-1</sup> cm<sup>-2</sup> and a low detection limit of 48 nGy<sub>air</sub> s<sup>-1</sup> at a low voltage of -1 V are achieved. We fabricated a dry battery-powered portable X-ray alarm prototype. The pixel detector shows a decent stability under X-ray exposure, and a spatial resolution of up to 5.0 lp mm<sup>-1</sup>, and the detector arrays also exhibit remarkable uniformity, demonstrating its potential application in X-ray imaging.