Structure and magnetic properties of (Co, Mn) co-doped ZnO diluted magnetic semiconductor nanoparticles

The ZnO, Zn_0.96Mn_0.04O, Zn_0.95Mn_0.04Co_0.01O, Zn_0.94Mn_0.04Co_0.02O and Zn_0.92Mn_0.04Co_0.04O nanoparticles were synthesized by simple chemical precipitation technique. The effects of co-doping on the structure and magnetic properties of these nanoparticles were studied. The X-rays diffraction (XRD) scans were performed in the 2θ range of 20°–80°. The XRD patterns, at 300 K, of all the pure and co-doped ZnO samples confirmed the formation of wurtzite-type structure. X-ray diffraction and transmission scanning electron microscope analysis indicated that the high spin Co²⁺ and Mn²⁺ ions were substituted for the Zn²⁺ ions at tetrahedral sites. The average size of the nanoparticles were increased from 17 to 24 nm with the increase of dopants concentration. Moreover, Energy Dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) confirmed the synthesis results. All Zn_0.96−xMn_0.04Co _x O (x = 0.0, 0.1, 0.2 and 0.4) nanoparticles samples were observed to be paramagnetic below 300 K. However, a large increase in the magnetization was observed below 40 K. This behavior, along with the negative value of the Curie–Weiss constant obtained from the linear fit to the susceptibility data below room temperature, indicated the ferromagnetic nature of the samples. The origin of ferromagnetism is likely to be the intrinsic characteristics of the Co and Mn doped samples. The high magnetization was noted for the 1 wt% Co co-doped Mn–ZnO annealed samples as compared to other samples with Co concentration above and below this threshold concentration.