CsI
Cesium iodide · Caesium iodide
Cesium iodide is a stable, insulating salt frequently used as a scintillator for detecting radiation in medical and scientific equipment.

About Cesium iodide
Cesium iodide is a robust, thermodynamically stable inorganic compound characterized by its insulating electronic nature. Its ability to act as an efficient scintillator makes it a critical material for high-energy physics and medical imaging applications. The compound exhibits significant structural versatility, as evidenced by the extensive number of reported structural configurations across scientific databases. This structural diversity underscores its importance in fundamental materials research and practical device engineering.
Key Properties
Cross-validated computational properties for Cesium iodide, aggregated across 4 databases.
Band GapEnergy needed to move an electron from the valence band to the conduction band. Lower or zero values tend to behave more metallic; larger gaps are more insulating or semiconducting.
Energy Above HullThermodynamic distance from the most stable set of competing phases. 0 eV/atom is on the convex hull; small positive values may still be experimentally accessible.
StabilityA plain-language summary of the best reported energy-above-hull result. It reflects whether the lowest-energy structure is on, near, or far from the stability hull.
StructuresCount of reported calculated crystal structures for this formula, including alternate polymorphs, source databases, and observed space groups.
Cross-Source DFT Agreement
How well independent DFT databases agree on the thermodynamics of CsI. Tight agreement means computed properties can be trusted without re-running calculations.
Agreement ScoreA normalized confidence score summarizing how closely independent DFT databases agree. Higher scores mean tighter cross-source agreement.
Hull SpreadDifference between the highest and lowest energy-above-hull values reported by comparable sources. Smaller spread means less thermodynamic disagreement.
Sources ComparedNumber and names of computational sources with comparable entries for this formula.
Space Group ConsensusWhether independent sources predict the same crystal symmetry for the lowest-energy structure.
Synthesis Routes
Literature-extracted synthesis procedures targeting CsI.
Applications
Where Cesium iodide is used.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about Cesium iodide, answered from cross-validated data.
What is CsI?
Cesium iodide is a stable, insulating salt frequently used as a scintillator for detecting radiation in medical and scientific equipment.
What is CsI used for?
What is the band gap of CsI?
Is CsI a metal, semiconductor, or insulator?
Is CsI thermodynamically stable?
How many polymorphs of CsI are known?
How is CsI synthesized?
What elements does CsI contain?
Where does the data for CsI come from?
How It Compares
As a prominent member of the alkali halide family, cesium iodide stands out for its high density and excellent scintillation properties compared to lighter halide counterparts. Its stability and electronic characteristics make it a preferred choice for applications requiring reliable performance under ionizing radiation, where it often outperforms other simple ionic solids in terms of light yield and detection sensitivity.
Data sources & attribution
- latticegraph — Lattice Graph Materials Intelligence Platform
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