High-energy radiation detection, covering α particles, β particles, γ rays, neutrons, and X-rays, is of critical importance for numerous strategic and societal fields, including nuclear safety monitoring, medical imaging, high-energy physics experiments, industrial nondestructive evaluation, and space exploration. Nevertheless, conventional semiconductor and scintillation detectors still encounter considerable challenges associated with limited detection efficiency, insufficient energy resolution, complex fabrication processes, and difficulties in large-area integration and flexible device development. Therefore, the exploration of novel semiconductor materials with high radiation sensitivity, efficient charge transport, and tunable device functionalities has become increasingly important. Metal halide perovskites have recently attracted extensive attention as promising materials for next-generation radiation detection owing to their unique combination of high effective atomic numbers, strong radiation absorption capability, excellent carrier transport characteristics, long carrier diffusion lengths, large carrier mobility-lifetime products (μτ), defect tolerance, and highly tunable chemical compositions and electronic structures. These intrinsic advantages enable perovskite-based semiconductor devices to achieve remarkable progress in both direct charge-collection detectors and indirect scintillation-based detection systems.
In this review, we systematically summarize the recent advances of metal halide perovskite semiconductor devices for high-energy radiation detection. First, the fundamental interaction mechanisms between different radiation types and semiconductor materials are introduced, including energy deposition, electron-hole pair generation, carrier transport, and signal conversion processes for α particles, β particles, γ rays, neutrons, and X-rays. Subsequently, the key performance parameters for evaluating radiation detectors are comprehensively discussed, including the carrier mobility-lifetime product (μτ), sensitivity, energy resolution, detection efficiency, and response time. The relationships between material properties, device structures, and detector performance are further analyzed to provide a comprehensive understanding of performance optimization strategies.
Furthermore, recent achievements of perovskite-based radiation detectors are reviewed according to different radiation detection scenarios. Three-dimensional perovskite, two-dimensional layered perovskites, and other low-dimensional perovskites have demonstrated outstanding potential through advances in crystal growth, defect regulation, compositional engineering, interface modification, and device architecture optimization. In particular, perovskite detectors have achieved significant breakthroughs in γ-ray and X-ray detection due to their high atomic-number constituents, excellent charge collection capability, and superior radiation interaction efficiency. Meanwhile, emerging applications in α-particle, β-particle, and neutron detection highlight the versatility of perovskite materials in complex radiation environments and multifunctional detection systems. Finally, the current challenges and future perspectives of metal halide perovskite radiation detectors are discussed, with particular emphasis on long-term operational stability, lead toxicity, scalable crystal growth, reproducible fabrication, interface engineering, and practical device integration. Future developments combining advanced material design, defect management, device engineering, and environmentally sustainable strategies are expected to further promote the transition of perovskite radiation detectors from laboratory demonstrations toward practical applications in high-performance, flexible, and multifunctional radiation sensing platforms.