Effect of annealing on structural and optical properties of lead tungstate microcrystals

Shuttle-like lead tungstate (PbWO4) microcrystals are synthesized at room temperature using the precipitation method with the cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide. Results from both the X-ray diffraction and the scanning electron microscopy show that the lattice distortions of the PbWO4 microcrystals are reduced significantly when the annealing temperature is increased to 873 K. The result from the ultraviolet-visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy shows that the exciton absorption appears in the sample annealed at 673 K. The self-trapped exciton luminescence due to the Jahn-Teller effect is also observed in the blue band. The interstitial oxygen ions in the WO42- groups are mainly resposible for the enhancement effect of the green luminescence of the annealed samples. The above results are supported by the spectrum analysis of the as-grown and the post-annealed samples using the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy.