Sonochemical preparation of luminescent PbWO4 nanocrystals with morphology evolution

PbWO4 nanostructures with different morphologies, such as polyhedral, spindle-like, and dot-shaped, have been successfully synthesized via a mild sonochemical route from an aqueous solution of lead acetate and sodium tungstate in the presence of complexing reagent NTA. Reaction conditions, such as pH value and the concentration of complexing reagent, were found to have close relation with the morphologies of final products. The ultrasound-induced oriented attachment growth mechanism has been proposed for the possible formation mechanism of spindle-like sample. Raman and room-temperature photoluminescence of PbWO4 samples with different morphologies have also been investigated.