Magnetic behavior of graphene sheets embedded carbon film originated from graphene nanocrystallite

Abstract

We found paramagnetic behavior at 300 K of graphene sheets embedded carbon (GSEC) film, which is deposited under low energy electron irradiation in electron cyclotron resonance plasma. The origin of the magnetic properties of GSEC film is ascribed to the formation of graphene nanocrystallite. With higher irradiation energy, the size of nanocrystallite barely changed, while the density in GSEC film became higher, leading to a dramatically increase of saturation magnetization and residual magnetism. This finding indicates that GSEC film with higher magnetization can be expected, which has the potential for magnetic and spintronics applications.