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The effect of the PbI\(_2\) surface passivation on the leakage current for MAPbI\(_3\) single crystal nuclear detectors

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Abstract

In semiconductor radiation detectors, leakage current is a major noise source affecting energy resolution and sensitivity. The surface passivation technology can reduce this leakage current and hence significantly enhance detector performance. Here, we demonstrate a facile way to passivate the surface of the nuclear detectors based on Methylammonium Lead Iodide (MAPbI\(_3\)) single crystals using soaking treatment in ethanol. A dense passivation layer of PbI\(_2\) was formed on the crystal surface, significantly reducing the surface leakage current by an order of magnitude under the same voltage. The energy resolution of the MAPbI\(_3\)-based detector is therefore improved by nearly 10% for the detection of 59.5 KeV irradiated from \(^{241}\)Am. Therefore, the PbI\(_2\) passivation by ethanol-soaking treatment is proved to be an effective method to reduce leakage current and improve detection performance.

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The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 12175131), the Opening Foundation of Zhejiang Engineering Research Center of MEMS(Grant No. MEMSZJERC2302). Thanks are due to Xu Haitao for assistance with the AFM experiments .

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 12175131), the Opening Foundation of Zhejiang Engineering Research Center of MEMS(Grant No. MEMSZJERC2302).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shanghai University, 333 Nanchen Road, Shanghai, 200444, China

    Zhu Jiajie, Cao Gang, Wang Hao, Yan Hao, Wang Wenzhen & Xu Run

  2. Zhejiang Institute of Advanced Materials, Shanghai University, Jiashan, 314113, China

    Xu Run

  3. Shanghai Collaborative Innovation Center of Intelligent Sensing Chip Technology, Shanghai, China

    Xu Run

Authors
  1. Zhu Jiajie
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  2. Cao Gang
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  3. Wang Hao
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  4. Yan Hao
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  5. Wang Wenzhen
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  6. Xu Run
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study’s conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by ZJ, CG, WH, YH, WW, XR. The first draft of the manuscript was written by ZJ and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Cao Gang or Xu Run.

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Jiajie, Z., Gang, C., Hao, W. et al. The effect of the PbI\(_2\) surface passivation on the leakage current for MAPbI\(_3\) single crystal nuclear detectors. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 35, 450 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-024-12117-2

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