Flexible Cs3Cu2I5 Nanocrystal Thin-Film Scintillators for Efficient α-Particle Detection

Thin-film detection technology plays a significant role in particle physics, X-ray imaging and radiation monitoring. In this paper, the detection capability of a Cs3Cu2I5thin-film scintillator toward α particles is investigated. The flexible thin-film scintillator is fabricated by a facile and cost-effective in situ strategy, exhibiting excellent scintillation properties. Upon α-particle excitation, the light yield of the Cs3Cu2I5thin-film is 2400 photons/MeV, which greatly benefits its application for single-particle events detection. Moreover, it shows linear energy response within the range of 4.7–5.5 MeV and moderate decay time of 667 ns. We further explored the cryogenic scintillation performance of Cs3Cu2I5@PMMA film. As the temperature decreases from 300 K to 50 K, its light yield gradually increases to 1.3 fold of its original value, while its decay time remains almost unchanged. This scintillator film also shows excellent low-temperature stability and flexible operational stability. This work demonstrates the great potential of the Cs3Cu2I5@PMMA film for the practical utilization in α-particle detection application.