Direct X-ray Detectors Based on an Eco-Friendly Semiconducting Zero-Dimensional Organic Zinc Bromide Hybrid
Oluwadara Joshua Olasupo, Thanh‐Hai Le, Tunde Blessed Shonde, He Liu, Alexander Bouchard, Sara Bouchard, Thilina N. D. D. Gamaralalage, Abiodun M. Adewolu, Tarannuma Ferdous Manny, Xinsong Lin, Yan‐Yan Hu, Wanyi Nie, Biwu Ma
Abstract
Direct X-ray detectors that convert X-rays to electrical charges have broad applications in medicine and security screening. Common semiconductors like silicon and selenium for direct X-ray detectors have limitations in performance, versatility, and cost-effectiveness. Among new materials under investigation, metal halide perovskites demonstrate great potential for X-ray detectors; however, they are limited by low stability and toxicity. Here, we report, for the first time, a stable and eco-friendly zero-dimensional (0D) organic metal halide hybrid (OMHH), (TPA-P) 2 ZnBr 4, for efficient X-ray detectors. With molecular sensitization, wherein metal halides (ZnBr 4 2– ) act as X-ray absorbers and organic semiconducting components (TPA-P +, 4-(4-(diphenylamino)phenyl)-1-propylpyridin-1-ium) as charge transporters, 0D (TPA-P) 2 ZnBr 4 detectors exhibit an impressive sensitivity of 2,292 μC Gy air –1 cm –2 at 20 V and a low detection limit of 37.5 nGy air s –1 . The exceptional stability of 0D (TPA-P) 2 ZnBr 4 facilitates remarkably stable direct X-ray detection and shows the tremendous potential of rationally designed 0D OMHHs as new-generation radiation detection materials.