Speaker
Description
The demand for efficient, cost-effective, and stable scintillators drives the search for new materials. Halide Perovskite-inspired materials have recently gained significant interest. They are considered promising scintillators in medical and high-energy physics due to their excellent theoretical light yield, energy, and time resolution. They demonstrate good structural and environmental stability when exposed to γ-rays, which promises advances over their halide Perovskite counterpart. These materials are also more chemically flexible in terms of doping and cation changes at the A- and B-sites. Smaller elements, such as lithium doping, can be employed for both gamma and neutron scintillators, allowing for highly effective neutron-gamma discrimination. These types of copper-based single crystals (SCs) can typically be grown in two phases, and the combination of these two phases, Cs3Cu2I5(0D) and CsCu2I3 (1D), emits blue and yellow light upon radiation. The max phase emits a white light with a broad spectrum from 400 to 700 nm. Moreover, these SCs can be useful in both types of radiation detectors, conventional and direct detectors, by employing charge transport layers for the band alignment with the cathode and anode. In this work, Cs3Cu2I5 PVK-inspired SCs were grown using a cost-effective solution method with larger size and transparency using chemical additives. Initially, the SCs were studied through various physical characterization techniques, including optical and structural analysis through UV-visible spectroscopy, luminescence measurements, and X-ray diffraction (XRD). For the final application, the custom-made system was coupled with a multi-anode PMT and dedicated electronics. The preliminary γ-ray testing using an imaging device shows the potential of Cs3Cu2I5 as an efficient and affordable choice for traditional halide scintillators like NaI and CsI for nuclear medicine-based imaging devices. Currently, centimeter scales and real-time characterization are possible; however, the upscaling still hinders these scintillators from being utilized commercially for large-sized application devices, and more research is required. This study marks a step toward replacing current scintillators in next-generation nuclear medicine imaging.
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