Synthesis and Magnetic Properties of Cobalt Doped Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles

Recent focus of nano-phase research has oriented to the oxide semiconductors that have wide band gap [around 3 eV] and can be doped suitably. The wide band gap leads to a transparent semiconductor that has various applications. Substituting cations in low proportion by atoms with unpaired electrons is expected to give magnetic properties in semiconducting environment. Diluted magnetic semiconductors (DMS), as these are called, can be promising for strong ferromagnetic exchange coupling between localized spins. These are important for potential of producing a well-controlled spin-polarized transport and detection of spin currents. Band structure calculation studies suggested the possible ferromagnetism in case of ZnO host. We synthesize zinc oxide and cobalt doped zinc oxide in powder nanoparticle morphology using a chemical route. The samples are characterized for crystallinity, crystallite sizes and magnetic properties. Nanoparticles exhibit room temperature ferromagnetism.