Contribution of structural order-disorder to the green photoluminescence of PbWO4

An intense and broad visible photoluminescence (PL) band was observed at room temperature in structurally disordered PbWO4 thin films. The scheelite lead tungstate (PbWO4) films prepared by the polymeric precursor method and annealed at different temperatures were structurally characterized by means of x-ray diffraction and atomic force microscopy analysis. Quantum-mechanical calculations showed that the local disorder of the network modifier (Pb) has a very important role in the charge transfer involved in the green PL emission. The experimental and theoretical results are in good agreement, both indicating that the generation of the intense visible PL band is related to simultaneous structural order and disorder in the scheelite PbWO4 lattice.