PEAI Surface Treatment for Low Ion Migration and High-Performance FAPbBr3 Single-Crystal X-ray Detectors.

Abstract

Organometal halide perovskite single crystals (SCs) are the most promising candidates for the next generation of radiation detection materials. However, surface defects severely affect their detection performance and limit further applications. Here, we identified the surface defect types of FAPbBr3 SCs and employed phenethylammonium iodide (PEAI) solution to treat the crystal surface and to investigate their effects on ion migration, photoelectric performance, and X-ray detection performance. Our experimental results demonstrated that the surface defects, such as the metallic Pb and Br vacancies, can be effectively passivated by both the PEAI and the two-dimensional (2D) PEA2PbI4 layers. The PEAI layer can elongate the carrier lifetime, lower the trap density, and suppress ion migration in FAPbBr3 SCs. The 2D PEA2PbI4 layer can form a dense and full surface coverage, suppress ion migration, and lower the dark current of the SCs. The X-ray sensitivity of the PEAI-passivated FAPbBr3 SC detectors is 227.93 μCGyair-1 cm-2, which is an order of magnitude higher than that of the pristine FAPbBr3 SC detectors. This work demonstrates that surface treatment plays a critical role in the crystal quality and the X-ray detection performance of SCs.