Room temperature ferromagnetism in undoped and Fe doped Zn3P2 nanoparticles: Structural, optical and magnetic properties

Abstract

In the current study, the structural, optical, and magnetic characteristics of Fe-doped Zn3P2 nanoparticles prepared by the solid-state reaction technique with various concentrations of Fe (x = 0.00, 0.02, 0.04, 0.06, and 0.08) were investigated. Studies using X-ray diffraction (XRD) verified that all of the produced samples had a tetragonal structure without any other phase, and that the lattice parameters increased (a = 8.090 Å, c = 11.421 Å to a = 8.120 Å, c = 11.499 Å) as the amount of dopant increased. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) performed on the sample demonstrates that the grain size is almost spherical. The size of agglomerations slightly increases with increasing dopant concentration. The results of an energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDAX) are almost exactly what was anticipated for the atomic weight ratios. The optical bandgap of the samples went from being 1.406 eV to being 1.453 eV when the dopant concentration was raised. When excited at wavelengths of 210 nm and 240 nm, rather than 307 nm, very intensity Photoluminescence (PL) emission spectra were detected in all of the samples. Vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) verified that magnetic moment is found to increase (0.08829 emu/g to 0.23125 emu/g) with increase of dopant concentration from 0.02 to 0.08.