Ferromagnetism in Chemically-synthesized Co-doped ZnO

Abstract

We report room temperature ferromagnetism (RTFM) in Co-doped ZnO (Zn1−xCoxO; x = 0.01 − 0.05) powder synthesized using a co-precipitation method. Our magnetometry data reveal a weak FM behavior at RT in the range 0.01 < x < 0.05. FM by magnetic FM moment steadily decreases with increasing dopant. The O K-edge near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectra indicate that O vacancies increases with increasing Co concentration and that the sample with x ≥ 0.03 has more broadening at 535 and 540 eV, which may be due to the oxygen vacancies. Co in the ZnO host reveals a +2 oxidation state via the K edge NEXAFS spectra.