Compositional, morphological, structural, microstructural, optical, and magnetic properties of Fe, Co, and Ni doped ZnS nanoparticles

Abstract

We present the compositional, morphological, structural, microstructural, optical, and magnetic properties of undoped, Fe, Co, and Ni doped ZnS diluted magnetic semiconductor nanoparticles (NPs) synthesized by chemical refluxing technique at 80 °C using Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) as a stabilizer. EDS spectra confirmed the presence of Zn, Fe, Co, Ni, and S in the samples with expected stoichiometry. XRD and Raman studies revealed that all the samples exhibited cubic structure without any impurity phases. The average diameter of the particles confirmed by HRTEM studies was in the range 5–8 nm. From DRS, the estimated band-gap values were 3.92, 3.70, 3.98, and 3.76 eV for undoped, Ni, Fe, and Co doped ZnS samples, respectively. Photoluminescence studies indicated that the undoped and doped samples exhibited broad and asymmetric PL peaks covering a wide visible range. Room temperature magnetisation studies revealed that the undoped, Fe, Co, and Ni doped samples exhibited diamagnetic, paramagnetic, and ferromagnetic behaviors, respectively. The use of these ions with magnetic properties in systems doped by an innovative method and thus creating a quantum confinement effect.