Magnetic Property of Mn-Doped Monoclinic ZrO2 Compounds

Abstract

Recently, many theoretical studies have projected that the Mn-doped ZrO2 compounds can exhibit long-range ferromagnetism. This study is to understand the magnetic property of Mn-doped monoclinic zirconia, Zr1−xMnxO2 (x = 0, 0.05, 0.10, 0.15, and 0.20), prepared at equilibrium condition, using solid-state reaction route. The structural property of these samples was studied using X-ray diffraction, and it is observed that all Mn-doped compounds are crystallized into monoclinic symmetry. The magnetic property measurements show that the pure ZrO2 compound exhibit paramagnetic behavior. However, all Mn-doped compounds exhibit ferrimagnetic ordering with a magnetic irreversibility behavior. The magnetic irreversibility in these compounds can be explained in terms of competition between ferrimagnetic and anti-ferromagnetic interactions. The coercivity and the area under hysteresis loop of all Mn-doped compounds are found to increase with the increase of Mn doping. The influence of final sintering temperature on the magnetic property is also studied, and it indicates that the samples prepared at a lower sintering temperature (1200 °C) exhibits better squareness of M-H loop, but with a decreased magnetic moment in comparison to the samples prepared at 1550 °C.