Electronic structure, magnetic and structural properties of Ni doped ZnO nanoparticles

• Published in: Materials research bulletin Vol. 59; pp. 377 - 381
• Main Authors: Kumar, Shalendra, Vats, Prashant, Gautam, S., Gupta, V.P., Verma, K.D., Chae, K.H., Hashim, Mohd, Choi, H.K.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01-11-2014
• Subjects: ABSORPTION SPECTROSCOPY; DOPED MATERIALS; ELECTRONIC STRUCTURE; FINE STRUCTURE; INDIUM FLUORIDES; MAGNETIZATION; MATERIALS SCIENCE; NANOPARTICLES; NANOSTRUCTURES; NICKEL IONS; SYNTHESIS; TEMPERATURE RANGE 0273-0400 K; TRANSMISSION ELECTRON MICROSCOPY; VACANCIES; X-RAY DIFFRACTION; X-RAY SPECTROSCOPY; ZINC OXIDES
• ISSN: 0025-5408; 1873-4227
• DOI: 10.1016/j.materresbull.2014.07.044

Highlights: • XRD, and HR-TEM results show the single phase nature of Ni doped ZnO nanoparticles. • dc magnetization results indicate the RT-FM in Ni doped ZnO nanoparticles. • Ni L{sub 3,2} edge NEXAFS spectra infer that Ni ions are in +2 valence state. • O K edge NEXAFS spectra show that O vacancy increases with Ni doping in ZnO. - Abstract: We report structural, magnetic and electronic structural properties of Ni doped ZnO nanoparticles prepared by auto-combustion method. The prepared nanoparticles were characterized by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), near edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy, and dc magnetization measurements. The XRD and HR-TEM results indicate that Ni doped ZnO nanoparticles have single phase nature with wurtzite lattice and exclude the presence of secondary phase. NEXAFS measurements performed at Ni L{sub 3,2}-edges indicates that Ni ions are in +2 valence state and exclude the presence of Ni metal clusters. O K-edge NEXAFS spectra indicate an increase in oxygen vacancies with Ni-doping, while Zn L{sub 3,2}-edge show the absence of Zn-vacancies. The magnetization measurements performed at room temperature shows that pure and Ni doped ZnO exhibits ferromagnetic behavior.