A new X-ray detector prototype is on the brink of revolutionizing medical imaging, with dramatic reduction in radiation exposure and the associated health risks, while also boosting resolution in security scanners and research applications, thanks to a collaboration between researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory and Argonne National Laboratory.

High sensitivity perovskite detectors could enable dental and medical images that require a tiny fraction of the exposure that accompanies conventional X-ray imaging. Reduced exposure decreases risks for patients and medical staff alike. The fact that perovskite detectors can be made very thin allows them to offer increased resolution for highly detailed images, which will lead to improved medical evaluations and diagnoses. Lower-energy and increased-resolution detectors could also revolutionize security scanners and imaging in X-ray research applications.

Because perovskite is rich in heavy elements, such as lead and iodine, X-rays that easily pass through silicon undetected are more readily absorbed, and detected, in perovskite. As a result, perovskite significantly outperforms silicon, particularly at detecting high-energy X-rays.

Perovskite films can be deposited on surfaces by spraying solutions that cure and leave thin layers of the material behind. As a result, the thin-layer detectors will be much easier and cheaper to produce than silicon-based detectors, which require high-temperature metal deposition under vacuum conditions.

“Potentially, we could use ink-jet types of systems to print large scale detectors,” says Tsai. “This would allow us to replace half-million-dollar silicon detector arrays with inexpensive, higher-resolution perovskite alternatives.”

In addition to the promise of thin-layer perovskites in X-ray detectors, thicker layers work well provided they include a small voltage source. This suggests that their useful energy range could be extended beyond X-rays to low-energy gamma-rays.

Find the study in Science Advances.

Featured image: X-ray detectors made with 2-dimensional perovskite thin films convert X-ray photons to electrical signals without requiring an outside power source, and are a hundred times more sensitive than conventional detectors. Credit: Los Alamos National Laboratory