Defect Induced Magnetism In Ni Doped ZnO Nanoparticles

Abstract

Synthesis of ZnxNi1-xO with x=0, 0.01 was carried out through facile and economic sol-gel method. Rietveld refined diffraction patterns confirmed the wurtzite structure of prepared ZnO samples. Crystallite size obtained using Scherrer equation was 36 +/- 1 and 46 +/- 1 nm for pure and doped ZnO. Photoluminescence studies at room temperature showed a broad emission peak in the region 500-800 nm, which further showed onsets of defects/vacancies in ZnxNi1-xO samples. Magnetic measurements at room temperature showed the shift in magnetic behavior from diamagnetism for pure ZnO to weak ferromagnetism in Ni doped ZnO sample. This study established a correlation among the vacancies and magnetic behavior of doped ZnO sample.