Self-wavelength shifting in two-dimensional perovskite for sensitive and fast gamma-ray detection

Lead halide perovskites have recently emerged as promising X/γ-ray scintillators. However, the small Stokes shift of exciton luminescence in perovskite scintillators creates problems for the light extraction efficiency and severely impedes their applications in hard X/γ-ray detection. Dopants have been used to shift the emission wavelength, but the radioluminescence lifetime has also been unwantedly extended. Herein, we demonstrate the intrinsic strain in 2D perovskite crystals as a general phenomenon, which could be utilized as self-wavelength shifting to reduce the self-absorption effect without sacrificing the radiation response speed. Furthermore, we successfully demonstrated the first imaging reconstruction by perovskites for application of positron emission tomography. The coincidence time resolution for the optimized perovskite single crystals (4 × 4 × 0.8 mm3) reached 119 ± 3 ps. This work provides a new paradigm for suppressing the self-absorption effect in scintillators and may facilitate the application of perovskite scintillators in practical hard X/γ-ray detections.