Methylammonium Lead Iodide for Efficient X-ray Energy Conversion

We report on photocurrent generation by X-ray irradiation in methylammonium lead iodide CH3NH3PbI3 single crystals. We observed 75% of charge collection efficiency in millimeter sized samples. This efficiency is partially due to the high photon absorption coefficient and X-ray beam stopping power of our lead containing material. The material shows a less than 20% decrease in its performance up to 40 Sv of total X-ray dose, which represents a very good stability. Moreover, our Monte Carlo N-Particle Transport calculations indicate that energetic particle radiation can also be harvested by CH3NH3PbI3. These properties are compared to CH3NH3SnI3 and PbI2. The possible application of these advantageous properties could be in simultaneous radiation protection and direct electricity production in environments with highly energetic background radiation.