Effect of Reducing Atmosphere on the Magnetism of Zn1-xCoxO Nanoparticles

We report the crystal structure and magnetic properties of Zn1-xCoxO nanoparticles synthesized by heating metal acetates in organic solvent. The nanoparticles were crystallized in wurtzite ZnO structure after annealing in air and in a forming gas (Ar95%+H5%). The X-ray diffraction and X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) data for different Co content show clear evidence for the Co+2 ions in tetrahedral symmetry, indicating the substitution of Co+2 in ZnO lattice. However samples with x=0.08 and higher cobalt content also indicate the presence of Co metal clusters. Only those samples annealed in the reducing atmosphere of the forming gas, and that showed the presence of oxygen vacancies, exhibited ferromagnetism at room temperature. The air annealed samples remained non-magnetic down to 77K. The essential ingredient in achieving room temperature ferromagnetism in these Zn1-xCoxO nanoparticles was found to be the presence of additional carriers generated by the presence of the oxygen vacancies.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, submitted to Nanotechnology IO

Room-Temperature Electron Spin Dynamics in Free-Standing ZnO Quantum Dots

Conduction band electrons in colloidal ZnO quantum dots have been prepared photochemically and examined by electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy. Nanocrystals of 4.6 nm diameter containing single S-shell conduction band electrons have g*=1.962 and a room-temperature ensemble spin-dephasing time of T2*=25  ns, as determined from linewidth analysis. Increasing the electron population leads to increased g* and decreased T2*, both associated with formation of P-shell configurations. A clear relationship between T2* and hyperfine coupling with 67Zn(I=5/2) is observed