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Highly stable and sensitive polystyrene/carbon black-BiI3 composite for direct X-ray detector

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Abstract

Sensitive and stable defect tolerant detectors with a long life, operating at low bias are essential for portable medical and security applications. Low-cost Polymer-high Z composite with conductive fillers show enhanced charge transportation and better long-term stability compared to conventional direct X-ray detector materials. Here, we report Polystyrene-Bismuth triiodide composite with carbon black incorporated as conductive filler. The composite showed great tolerance towards radiation induced structural damage as confirmed with XRD studies of pre and post irradiated samples. Also, the radiation induced defects in the composite due to continuous irradiation of X-rays have been studied with variation in thickness. In traditional planar detector configuration, photon absorption efficiency is defined by the thickness of the material, however as a downside, it limits the charge transport properties affected by traps in the chosen material. Therefore, a trade-off must be found between photon absorption efficiency and charge collection efficiency The detector shows low dark current density of 0.5 nA/cm2 and high sensitivity of 0.6 × 103 µC/Gy-cm3 against dose rate of 500 µ-Gy/sec. at 30 V bias. In addition, the stability test exhibits no deterioration in sensing for integrated dose of 3200 mGy in one run which is 32,000 times the dose used in chest X-rays. In addition, the sample fully recovers its charge collection ability and neutralizes the space charge accumulation due to continuous irradiation illustrating longevity of the sample. The composite shows intriguing results as a promising material for low-bias, portable detector with high stability for X-ray imaging and detection applications.

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Data availability

Data sets generated during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

Ritu Chaudhari acknowledges Indira Gandhi Delhi Technical University for Women for university Junior and senior Research Fellowship and various infrastructure and facilities for research.

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  1. Department of Applied Sciences and Humanities, Indira Gandhi Delhi Technical University for Women, Kashmere Gate, Delhi, 110006, India

    Ritu Chaudhari & Chhaya Ravikant

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  1. Ritu Chaudhari
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  2. Chhaya Ravikant
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by RC and CRK. The first draft of the manuscript was written by RC and CRK commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Chhaya Ravikant.

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Chaudhari, R., Ravikant, C. Highly stable and sensitive polystyrene/carbon black-BiI3 composite for direct X-ray detector. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 34, 1687 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-023-11106-1

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