Absence Of Room Temperature Ferromagnetism Research Articles

Popcorn like morphology and absence of room temperature ferromagnetism in Ni doped SnO2 nanoparticles

Ni-doped SnO2 nanoparticles were synthesized by the microwave oven assisted solvothermal method. The structural characterization was done by X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy. The outcomes confirmed that Ni-doped SnO2 nanoparticles have a pure rutile-type tetragonal phase of SnO2 structures with a high degree of crystallization and a crystallite size of 10–14 nm. Popcorn like SEM morphology of the nickel doped sample is shown. Optical characterization was done by UV–Vis spectrometer, fluorescence spectroscopy and electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy. Magnetic characterization was done by vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). The VSM measurements revealed that the Ni doped SnO2 powder samples were diamagnetic at room temperature. This diamagnetic result is in contradiction to earlier published results.

Magnetic properties of nitrogen-doped ZrO2: Theoretical evidence of absence of room temperature ferromagnetism

N-dopants in bulk monoclinic ZrO2 and their magnetic interactions have been investigated by DFT calculations, using the B3LYP hybrid functional. The electronic and magnetic properties of the paramagnetic N species, substitutionals and interstitials, are discussed. Their thermodynamic stability has been estimated as a function of the oxygen partial pressure. At 300 K, N prefers interstitial sites at any range of oxygen pressure, while at higher temperatures (700–1000 K), oxygen poor-conditions facilitate substitutional dopants. We have considered the interaction of two N defects in various positions in order to investigate the possible occurrence of ferromagnetic ordering. A very small magnetic coupling constant has been calculated for several 2N-ZrO2 configurations, thus demonstrating that magnetic ordering can be achieved only at very low temperatures, well below liquid nitrogen. Furthermore, when N atoms replace O at different sites, resulting in slightly different positions of the corresponding N 2p levels, a direct charge transfer can occur between the two dopants with consequent quenching of the magnetic moment. Another mechanism that contributes to the quenching of the N magnetic moments is the interplay with oxygen vacancies. These effects contribute to reduce the concentration of magnetic impurities, thus limiting the possibility to establish magnetic ordering.

Absence of room temperature ferromagnetism in Fe stabilized ZrO2 nanostructures and effect of Fe doping on its structural, optical and luminescence properties

Undoped and Fe doped ZrO2 nanostructures were synthesized using sol–gel method. The structural analysis revealed that the tetragonal phase of ZrO2 nanostructures can be stabilized at 700 °C by 10 at.% doping of Fe into ZrO2 matrix for particle size less than 10 nm. The value of optical band gap of Fe doped ZrO2 nanostructures is decreased with Fe doping. It could be due to many-body interaction between Zr and Fe. The presence of oxygen vacancies in the synthesized samples was confirmed by PL measurements. VSM measurements revealed the room temperature ferromagnetism (RTFM) in undoped ZrO2 nanostructures. However, the RTFM of the material goes off by Fe doping into ZrO2 matrix. The Fe doping induces magnetic transition from ferromagnetic to paramagnetic in Fe doped tetragonal ZrO2 nanostructures. The paramagnetic nature of Fe doped ZrO2 nanostructures is explained by density functional theory (DFT) employing breaking symmetry approach (BS). The theoretical results show that the antiferromagnetic interaction between Zr–Fe and Fe–Fe may be responsible for the paramagnetic nature of Fe doped ZrO2 nanostructures.

Defect controlled ferromagnetism in xenon ion irradiated zinc oxide

We report evolution of magnetic properties in zinc oxide (ZnO) single crystals and polycrystalline films induced by 500KeV xenon ion (Xe3+) irradiation. Room temperature ferromagnetism (RT-FM) behavior is observed in as deposited polycrystalline ZnO film and strength of FM enhances with ion fluence up to 2×1017ions/cm2 and then decreases. However, RT-FM is not observed in ZnO single crystals even after irradiation with fluence up to 3.5×1017ions/cm2. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman measurements of ZnO single crystal reveal slightly disordered hexagonal wurtzite structure after irradiation. However, as deposited and irradiated polycrystalline ZnO films indicate excessive lattice defects in the wurtzite structure. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) reveals that Zn vacancy/interstitial defects are absent in all samples, although oxygen vacancy lattice defects are present. Density of oxygen vacancies is much higher in as deposited and irradiated polycrystalline ZnO films as compared to single crystals. This seems to be the determining factor for the presence and absence of RT-FM in ZnO films and single crystals respectively. The observed FM behavior in as deposited and irradiated polycrystalline ZnO films is explained on the basis of spin split impurity band formation from singly and doubly occupied oxygen vacancies which initiates d0 ferromagnetism.

Absence of room temperature ferromagnetism in Mn-doped ZnS nanocrystalline thin film

Mn-doped ZnS nanocrystalline thin films having composition Zn1−xMnxS (x=0.02, 0.05, 0.1 and 0.15) were prepared by the electron beam evaporation technique. Their structural and magnetic properties had been investigated. X-ray diffraction results show single phase of hexagonal type structure samples without any detectable secondary phase providing the evidence that Mn2+ ions are incorporated into the ZnS lattice. Evidence of nanocrystalline nature of the films was observed from the investigation of surface morphology using atomic force microscopy. The magnetic measurements at 5K reveal superparamagnetic behavior. The field dependent magnetization measurements confirm the absence of the room temperature ferromagnetism in the single phase electron beam evaporated Zn1−xMnxS (x=0.02, 0.05, 0.1 and 0.15) nanocrystalline films. Furthermore, the inverse susceptibility versus T confirms paramagnetic behavior for the Mn-doped films in the temperature range 100K≤T≤300K. The absence of significant impurities and/or defects could be attributed to explanation for the absence of free carriers and consequently the absence of room temperature ferromagnetism in all nanocrystalline Zn1−xMnxS films. The absence of room temperature ferromagnetism is evidence by marked concave nature of Arrott's plot without any spontaneous magnetization.

Absence of room temperature ferromagnetism in transition metal doped ZnO nanocrystalline powders from PAC spectroscopy

Local structural and electronic environment around 111In probe atoms in transition metal doped Zn1 − xTxO (T=Mn, Co, V and Ni; x = 0.01, 0.02, 0.05) and Cu co-doped Zn1 − xCoxCu0.01O (x = 0.01–0.04) have been monitored on an atomic scale by Perturbed Angular Correlation (PAC) spectroscopy. Single phase nanocrystalline powders were synthesized at low annealing temperatures by sol-gel method. PAC measurements exhibited the well known quadrupole interaction frequency, $\upnu_{\rm Q} =$ 31 MHz, which have been attributed to the substitutional incorporation of 111In in ZnO matrix. PAC results did not reveal any evidence of magnetic ordering down to 77 K in pure and doped ZnO, which is consistent with the recent observation of paramagnetic behavior in transition metal doped ZnO with synchrotron based studies.

Magnetization study of Fe-doped ZnO co-doped with Cu: Synthesized by wet chemical method

Fe- and Cu-doped ZnO of nominal compositions Zn0.95Fe0.05O and Zn0.94Fe0.05Cu0.01O were synthesized by a wet chemical route. X-ray diffraction analysis of the samples annealed at 575 K showed that they are single phase without any secondary phases. DC magnetization measurements of Cu co-doped samples (Zn0.94Fe0.05Cu0.01O) as a function of field at room temperature showed ferromagnetic signature while the samples without Cu co-doping (Zn0.95Fe0.05O) are paramagnetic in nature. On increasing the temperature of annealing from 575 K to 1,075 K an impurity phase emerges in both the samples, which has been identified as a variant of ZnFe2O4. Both the samples heated at and above 1,075 K are found to be paramagnetic at room temperature. These observations, the absence of room temperature ferromagnetism in Zn0.95Fe0.05O and the disappearance of ferromagnetism in Zn0.94Fe0.05Cu0.01O on raising the temperature of annealing clearly rules out the likelihood of room temperature ferromagnetism arising from the impurity phases like γ-Fe2O3 and/or ZnFe2O4 that might have been formed during the synthesis. Our results strongly suggest that room temperature ferromagnetism in Zn0.94Fe0.05Cu0.01O can be attributed to the formation of a secondary phase of Cu-doped ZnFe2O4.

Absence of room temperature ferromagnetism in bulk Mn-doped ZnO

Structural and magnetic properties have been studied for polycrystalline Zn1−xMnxO (x=0.02,0.03,0.05). Low-temperature (∼500 °C) synthesis leaves unreacted starting ZnO and manganese oxides. Contrary to a recent report, no bulk ferromagnetism was observed for single-phase materials synthesized in air at temperatures above 900 °C. Single-phase samples show paramagnetic Curie–Weiss behavior.