Investigation of Ferromagnetism and Growth Correlation of Transition Metal Doped ZnO

Abstract

In this study, a series of 3d transition metal (TM) (Co, Ni and Fe) doped ZnO particles synthesized by simple co-precipitation method. Structural, morphological and magnetic properties were investigated to determine correlation between growth process and ferromagnetism of metal doped ZnO samples. All samples had ZnO hexzagonal würtzite structure and slightly shift of ZnO indexed peaks was observed by TM incorporation in ZnO. Although ZnO samples had granular forms, agglomerative forms had emerged in TM:ZnO samples due to the fast growth process. The pure ZnO sample transformed paramagnetic to ferromagnetic by TM incorporation due to carrier mediated exchange interaction between TM ions. The results demonstated that doping with Fe3+ ions in ZnO structure had enhanced ferromagnetism although fast growth and high particle agglomeration.