In this study, B-doped ZnO nanoparticles were synthesized by template-free solvothermal method. X-ray diffraction analysis reveals that B-doped ZnO nanoparticles have hexagonal wurtzite structure. Field emission scanning electron microscopy observations show that the nanoparticles have a diameter of 50 nm. The room temperature ferromagnetism increases monotonically with increasing B concentration to the ZnO nanoparticles and reaches the maximum value of saturation magnetization 0.0178 A·m2 ·kg-1 for 5 % B-doped ZnO nanoparticles. Moreover, photoluminescence spectra reveal that B doping causes to produce Zn vacancies (VZn ). Magnetic moment of oxygen atoms nearest to the B-VZn vacancy pairs can be considered as a source of ferromagnetism for B-doped ZnO nanoparticles.
M. Hassan FarooqXiao-Guang XuHai-Ling YangCong-Jun RanJun MiaoM. Zubair IqbalYong Jiang
The effect of a second dopant on the magnetic property of Cu-doped ZnO by first-principles calculations based on the density functional theory was studied. It is found that the Cu-doped ZnO shows ferromagnetism due to the hybridization between Cu-3d and O-2p orbitals. When Na is introduced to the Cu-doped ZnO system, Cu cations tend to take on a bivalent state. Therefore, the magnetic moments on both Cu and coordinated oxygen sites increase due to Na doping. On the contrary, the magnetic moments decrease dramatically in the(Cu, Al) co-doped ZnO, which can be attributed to the fully occupied 3d states of Cu+ and O-2p states.
We have observed room temperature ferromagnetism in Mn-doped and (Fe, Mn)-codoped ZnO thin films grown under different oxygen partial pressures by pulsed laser deposition. The X-ray diffraction and optical transmission spectra studies demonstrate the natural incorporation of Fe and Mn cations into wurtzite ZnO lattices. The effects of transition metal doping and defects on the magnetic properties was investigated. It is found that room temperature ferromagnetism is sensitive to oxygen vacancy and Zn vacancy. The absence of ferromagnetism in pure ZnO films grown under different oxygen partial pressures reveals that the transition metal ions should also play an important role in inducing the ferromagnetism.
Pure ZnO and Zn0.96Na0.04O films were grown on quartz substrates by sol-gel technology.The XRD analysis revealed that all thin films had hexagonal wurtzite structure and obvious c-axis preferred orientation.Ferromagnetism was precisely measured by an alternating gradient magnetometer (AGM).To explore the nature original ferromagnetism,the effect of annealing atmosphere on magnetic properties of the films was studied.Compared with pure ZnO,magnetic hysteresis loops showed that doping Na atoms enhanced saturation magnetism.The mag-netism of the films annealed in the air atmosphere was significantly better than that in the O2 atmosphere.The photoluminescence (PL) spec-trum analysis suggested that the ferromagnetism was due to the defects in the films.
Wu, Kai Xu, Xiaoguang Yang, Hailing Zhang, Jianli Miao, Jun Jiang, Yong
Pure ZnO and Si-doped ZnO thin films were deposited on quartz substrate by using sol-gel spin coating process. X-ray diffraction analysis shows that all the thin films have hexagonal wurtzite structure and preferred c-axis orientation. Si-doped ZnO films show room temperature ferromagnetism (RTFM) and reach the maximum saturation magnetization value of 1.54 kAm-1 at 3% Siconcentration. RTFM of Si-doped ZnO decreases with the increasing annealing temperature because of the formation of SiO 2 . Photoluminescence measurements suggest that the RTFM in Si-doped ZnO can be attributed to the defect complex related to zinc vacancies V Zn and oxygen interstitials Oi .
We have calculated the electronic structures of Co2FeAl1-xSix(101) surface using first-principles method based on the density functional theory. Because of the surface effect, the minority spin band gap at the Fermi level disappears at the surface of bulk Co2FeAl1-xSix. However, beneath the surface, the minority spin gap opens at the Fermi level, which indicates that the electronic structures of Co2FeAl1-xSix(101) become close to that of bulk phase. Accordingly, the Co2FeAl1-xSix(101) surface is a composite tri-layer structure that corresponds to the weakening of half-metallic property in Co2FeAl1-xSix films. Even though, the spin polarization of Co2FeAl1-xSix(101) surface is still larger than that of Co2FeAl or Co2FeSi materials, making Co2FeAl1-xSix a promising spintronics material.
The electronic structures of spinel MgAl 2 O 4 and MgOtunnel barrier materials were investigated using first-principles density functional theory calculations. Our results show that similar electronic structures are found for the MgAl 2 O 4 and MgO tunneling barriers. The calculated direct energy gaps at the Γ-point are about 5.10 eV for MgAl 2 O 4 and 4.81 eV for MgO, respectively. Because of the similar feature in band structures from Γ high-symmetry point to F point ( band), the coherent tunneling effect might be expected to appear in MgAl 2 O 4-based MTJs like in MgO-based MTJs. The small difference of the surface free energies of Fe (2.9 J m 2 ) and MgAl 2 O 4 (2.27 J m 2 ) on the {100} orientation, and the smaller lattice mismatch between MgAl 2 O 4 and ferromagnetic electrodes than that between MgO and ferromagnetic electrodes, the spinel MgAl 2 O 4 can substitute MgO to fabricate the coherent tunneling and chemically stable magnetic tunnel junction structures, which will be applied in the next generation read heads or spintronic devices.
