Electrical resistivity and photoluminescence of lead iodide crystals

Direct synthesis of lead iodide, a promising material for X-ray and γ detectors operating at room temperature, was developed and optimized. The influence of admixture of rare earth elements Ce, Ho, Gd, Yb, Er, and Tb in concentrations 0.05–0.5 at. % on the quality of prepared PbI2 was investigated. Zone melting was employed in order to increase the lead iodide purity. Electrical and optical properties of PbI2 samples were assessed on the basis of the measurement of electrical resistivity and low-temperature photoluminescence. The electrical resistivity of synthesized samples varied from 109 Ω cm to 1011 Ω cm and occasionally it was increased up to 1013 Ω cm.