Organic photoelectric materials for X-ray and gamma ray detection: mechanism, material preparation and application

In recent years, with the increasing demands of high-energy physics, medical diagnosis, radiochemistry, and industrial non-destructive testing, ionizing radiation detectors have received more and more attention. Organic photoelectric materials have been used in ionizing radiation detection for nearly hundred years. Until recently, the novel molecular design, progressive preparation technology and further mechanism exploration have once again greatly expanded their application field, as well as showing a short response time, low limitation of dose rate and high sensitivity, which can be used as candidate materials for next-generation high-energy radiation detectors owing to their low-cost processing techniques, flexible properties and promising low detection limit. Based on a brief description of the detection mechanism, this review investigates the recent research of X-ray and gamma ray detection based on organic thin films, single crystals, polymers and liquid materials. It focuses on the advantages of these materials, bottlenecks encountered, and relatively effective solutions in recent years. This article aims to provide readers with a deeper understanding of the comprehensive approach to design organic materials and improve the conversion efficiency for future ionizing radiation detection.