The rising demand for radiation detection materials in many applications has led to extensive research on scintillators. The ability of a scintillator to absorb high-energy (kiloelectronvolt-scale) X-ray photons and convert the absorbed energy into low-energy visible photons is critical for applications in radiation exposure monitoring, security inspection, X-ray astronomy and medical radiography. However, conventional scintillators are generally synthesized by crystallization at a high temperature and their radioluminescence is difficult to tune across the visible spectrum. Here we describe experimental investigations of a series of all-inorganic perovskite nanocrystals comprising caesium and lead atoms and their response to X-ray irradiation. These nanocrystal scintillators exhibit strong X-ray absorption and intense radioluminescence at visible wavelengths. Unlike bulk inorganic scintillators, these perovskite nanomaterials are solution-processable at a relatively low temperature and can generate X-ray-induced emissions that are easily tunable across the visible spectrum by tailoring the anionic component of colloidal precursors during their synthesis. These features allow the fabrication of flexible and highly sensitive X-ray detectors with a detection limit of 13 nanograys per second, which is about 400 times lower than typical medical imaging doses. We show that these colour-tunable perovskite nanocrystal scintillators can provide a convenient visualization tool for X-ray radiography, as the associated image can be directly recorded by standard digital cameras. We also demonstrate their direct integration with commercial flat-panel imagers and their utility in examining electronic circuit boards under low-dose X-ray illumination.

So-called zero-dimensional perovskites, such as Cs 4 PbBr 6 , promise outstanding emissive properties. However, Cs 4 PbBr 6 is mostly prepared by melting of precursors that usually leads to a coformation of undesired phases. Here, we report a simple low-temperature solution-processed synthesis of pure Cs 4 PbBr 6 with remarkable emission properties. We found that pure Cs 4 PbBr 6 in solid form exhibits a 45% photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY), in contrast to its three-dimensional counterpart, CsPbBr 3 , which exhibits more than 2 orders of magnitude lower PLQY. Such a PLQY of Cs 4 PbBr 6 is significantly higher than that of other solid forms of lower-dimensional metal halide perovskite derivatives and perovskite nanocrystals. We attribute this dramatic increase in PL to the high exciton binding energy, which we estimate to be ∼353 meV, likely induced by the unique Bergerhoff−Schmitz−Dumont-type crystal structure of Cs 4 PbBr 6 , in which metal-halide-comprised octahedra are spatially confined. Our findings bring this class of perovskite derivatives to the forefront of color-converting and light-emitting applications.

A rapid, low‐temperature, and solution‐based route is developed for growing large‐sized cesium lead halide perovskite single crystals under ambient conditions. An ultralow minority carrier concentration was measured in CsPbBr3 (≈108 holes per cm3, much lower than in any other lead halide perovskite and crystalline silicon), which enables to realize self‐powered photodetectors with a high ON/OFF ratio (105).

Zero-dimensional perovskite-related structures (0D-PRS) are a new frontier of perovskite-based materials. 0D-PRS, commonly synthesized in powder form, manifest distinctive optical properties such as strong photoluminescence (PL), narrow emission linewidth, and high exciton binding energy. These properties make 0D-PRS compelling for several types of optoelectronic applications, including phosphor screens and electroluminescent devices. However, it would not be possible to rationally design the chemistry and structure of these materials, without revealing the origins of their optical behaviour, which is contradictory to the well-studied APbX3 perovskites. In this work, we synthesize single crystals of Cs4PbBr6 0D-PRS, and investigated the origins of their unique optical and electronic properties. The crystals exhibit a PL quantum yield higher than 40%, the highest reported for perovskite-based single crystals. Time-resolved and temperature dependent PL studies, supported by DFT calculations, and structural analysis, elucidate an emissive behaviour reminiscent of a quantum confined structure rather than a typical bulk perovskite material.

Lead halide compounds, including lead halide perovskite nanocrystals (NCs), have attracted the interest of researchers in optoelectronics and photonics because of their high photoluminescence quantum yields (PLQYs) coupled with relatively short PL lifetimes (on the order of a few nanoseconds). However, lead-free metal halides of high PLQY, including double perovskites and their doped NCs, typically possess long PL lifetimes (up to microseconds) that limit their application space. Here, we introduce CsMnBr3 NCs, which are lead-free and red-emitting, that combine a high PLQY with an exceptionally short radiative lifetime (on the order of picoseconds). We find that the octahedral coordination of Mn2+ in CsMnBr3 induces a red emission centered at ∼643 nm with a PLQY of ∼54% and a fast radiative decay rate. Femtosecond transient absorption and transient PL spectroscopies reveal the existence of a low-lying excited state of Mn2+ that relaxes to the ground state within around 605 ps by emitting light at around 643 nm. At greater excitation energies, higher excited states of Mn2+ relax in the sub-nanosecond time scale to this low-lying excited state. A similarly positioned PL peak with a short picosecond scale PL lifetime and a PLQY of ∼6.7% was also detected in bulk CsMnBr3 single crystals reported in this studya relatively high quantum yield for a bulk material. Our experimental results and density functional theory modelling show that the crystal structure and the strong coupling among Mn2+ ions govern those luminescence properties of CsMnBr3 NCs and single crystals. These findings pave the way for new lead-free materials that combine high PLQY and ultrafast luminescence.