Enhanced magnetic properties of cobalt-doped graphene nanoribbons

Abstract

We have studied structural and magnetic properties of reduced graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) and cobalt (Co)-doped GNRs. The effect of Co was also investigated on the magnetic properties of pristine GNRs, which play vital role in contribution of calculated magnetic moment. Herein, we have synthesized the pristine GNRs and Co-doped GNRs via a simple chemical refluxing process. The analysis of synthesised materials were carried out using different techniques such as Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) with EDAX analysis and X-ray diffraction pattern were confirmed the doping of Co into the GNRs. Moreover, from morphological analysis (FESEM), impurity or dopant (Co) shows as adsorbed at the surface of GNRs. Raman analysis has proved that the incorporation of Co into graphitic structure creates more defective sites. The results obtained from VSM analysis is clearly revealed that enhanced saturation magnetization (Ms) from ~13.08 × 10−2 emu/g to ~37.35 × 10−2 emu/g, due to the presence of unbalanced electron spins in Co which may be responsible for higher saturation magnetization in case of Co-doped GNRs as comparison of pristine GNRs. The obtained interesting magnetic properties of Co-doped GNRs create much attention towards various applications including spintronics devices and some related fields.