Atomistic Surface Passivation of CH3NH3PbI3 Perovskite Single Crystals for Highly Sensitive Coplanar-Structure X-Ray Detectors

Organic-inorganic halide perovskites (OIHPs) are recognized as the promising next-generation X-ray detection materials. However, the device performance is largely limited by the ion migration issue of OIHPs. Here, we reported a simple atomistic surface passivation strategy with methylammonium iodide (MAI) to remarkably increase the ion migration activation energy of CH3NH3PbI3 single crystals. The amount of MAI deposited on the crystal surface is finely regulated by a self-assemble process to effectively suppress the metallic lead defects, while not introducing extra mobile ions, which results in significantly improved dark current stability of the coplanar-structure devices under a large electric field of 100Vmm(-1). The X-ray detectors hence exhibit a record-high sensitivity above 700,000 mu C Gy-(1) air cm(-2) under continuum X-ray irradiation with energy up to 50 keV, which enables an ultralow X-ray detection limit down to 1.5 nGyair s(-1). Our findings will allow for the dramatically reduced X-ray exposure of human bodies in medical imaging applications.