X-ray-Induced Pyroelectric Effect in a Perovskite Ferroelectric Drives Low Detection Limit Self-Powered Responses

The light-induced pyroelectric effect (LPE) has shown a great promise in the application of optoelectronic devices, especially for self-powered detection and imaging. However, it is quite challenging and scarce to achieve LPE in the X-ray region. For the first time, we report X-ray LPE in a single-phase ferroelectric of (NPA)(2)(EA)(2)Pb3Br10 (1, NPA = neopentylamine, EA = ethylamine), adopting a two-dimensional trilayered perovskite motif, which has a large spontaneous polarization of similar to 3.7 mu C/cm(2). Its ferroelectricity allows for significant LPE in the wavelength range of ordinary visible light. Strikingly, the X-ray LPE is observed in 1, which endows remarkable self-powered X-ray responses at 0 bias, including sensitivity up to 225 mu C Gy(-1) cm(-2) and a low detection limit of similar to 83.4 nGy s(-1), being almost 66 times lower than the requirement for medical diagnostics (similar to 5.5 mu Gy s(-1)). This work not only develops a new mode for X-ray detection but also provides valuable insights for future photoelectric device application.