'Game changer' perovskite can detect gamma rays

Date:
December 9, 2020
Source:
Ecole Polytechnique Fe'de'rale de Lausanne
Summary:
Scientists have developed a game-changing perovskite material
that can be used as a cheaper and highly efficient alternative to
gamma-ray detectors.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Perovskites are materials made up of organic compounds bound to a metal.

Propelled into the forefront of materials' research because of their
structure and properties, perovskites are earmarked for a wide range
of applications, including in solar cells, LED lights, lasers, and photodetectors.


==========================================================================
That last application, photo -- or light -- detection, is of particular interest to scientists at EPFL's School of Basic Sciences who have
developed a perovskite that can detect gamma rays. Led by the labs
of Professors La'szlo Forro' and Andreas Pautz, the researchers have
published their work in Advanced Science.

"This photovoltaic perovskite crystal, grown in this kilogram size, is a
game changer," says Forro'. "You can slice it into wafers, like silicon,
for optoelectronic applications, and, in this paper, we demonstrate its
utility in gamma-ray detection." Monitoring gamma rays Gamma-rays are a
kind of penetrating electromagnetic radiation that is produced from the radioactive decay of atomic nuclei, e.g., in nuclear or even supernovae explosions. Gamma-rays are on the shortest end of the electromagnetic
spectrum, which means that they have the highest frequency and the
highest energy. Because of this, they can penetrate almost any material,
and are used widely in homeland security, astronomy, industry, nuclear
power plants, environmental monitoring, research, and even medicine,
for detecting and monitoring tumors and osteoporosis.

But exactly because gamma rays can affect biological tissue, we have to
be able to keep an eye on them. To do this, we need simple, reliable,
and cheap gamma- ray detectors. The perovskite that the EPFL scientists developed is based on crystals of methylammonium lead tribromide (MAPbBr3)
and seems to be an ideal candidate, meeting all these requirements.



========================================================================== Crystal-clear advantages Perovskites are first "grown" as crystals,
and the quality and clarity of the crystals determines the efficiency
of the material when it is turned into thin films that can be used in
devices like solar panels.

The perovskite crystals that the EPFL scientists made show high
clarity with very low impurities. When they tested gamma-rays on the
crystals, they found that they generated photo-carriers with a high "mobility-lifetime product," which is a measurement of the quality of
radiation detectors. In short, the perovskite can efficiently detect
gamma rays at room temperatures, simply by resistivity measurement.

Cheaper and scalable synthesis The MAPbBr3 part of the "metal halide"
family of perovskites, meaning that, unlike market-leading crystals,
its crystals can be grown from abundant and low-cost raw materials. The synthesis takes place in solutions close to room temperature without
needing expensive equipment.

Of course, this is not the first perovskite made for gamma
ray-detection. But the volume of most lab-grown metal halide perovskites
used for this is limited to about 1.2 ml, which is hardly scalable to commercial levels. However, the team at EPFL also developed a unique
method called 'oriented crystal-crystal intergrowth' that allowed them
to make a whole liter of crystals weighing 3.8 kg in total.

"Personally, I enjoyed very much to work at the common frontiers of
condensed matter physics, chemistry and reactor physics, and to see that
this collaboration could lead to important application to our society,"
says Pavao Andri?evic, the lead-author.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by
Ecole_Polytechnique_Fe'de'rale_de_Lausanne. Original written by Nik Papageorgiou. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Pavao Andričevic, Pavel Frajtag, Vincent Pierre Lamirand,
Andreas
Pautz, Ma'rton Kolla'r, Ba'lint Na'fra'di, Andrzej Sienkiewicz,
Tonko Garma, La'szlo' Forro', Endre Horva'th. Kilogram-scale
crystallogenesis of halide perovskites for gamma-rays dose rate
measurements.. Advanced Science, 2020 DOI: 10.1002/advs.202001882 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/12/201209115141.htm

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