Origami-inspired perovskite X-ray detector by printing and folding

X-ray detectors are of pivotal importance for the scientific and technological progress in a wide range of medical, industrial, and scientific applications. Here, we take advantage of the printability of perovskite-based semiconductors and achieve a high X-ray sensitivity combined with the potential of an exceptional high spatial resolution by our origami-inspired folded perovskite X-ray detector. The high performance of our device is reached solely by the folded detector architecture and does not require any photolithography. The design and fabrication of a foldable perovskite sensor array is presented and the detector is characterized as a planar and as a folded device. Exposed to 50 kVp–150 kVp X-ray radiation, the planar detector reaches X-ray sensitivities of 25–35 µC/(Gyaircm2), whereas the folded detector achieves remarkably increased X-ray sensitivities of several hundred µC/(Gyaircm2) and a record value of 1409 µC/(Gyaircm2) at 150 kVp without photoconductive gain. Finally, the potential of an exceptional high spatial resolution of the folded detector of more than 20 lp/mm under 150 kVp X-ray radiation is demonstrated.