Zn-Cu-codoped SnO2 nanoparticles:Structural, optical, and ferromagnetic behaviors
Syed Zulfiqar1,2, Zainab Iqbal3, Jianguo Lü(吕建国)1
1. State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China; 2. Department of Physics, Abdul Wali Khan University, Mardan 23200, Khyber Pukhtunkhwa, Pakistan; 3. Institute of Chemical Sciences, University of Peshawar, Khyber Pukhtunkhwa, 25120, Pakistan
Abstract Zn-Cu-codoped SnO2 nanoparticles have been synthesized by chemical precipitation method. All nanoparticles are crystalline, with the average size increases from 2.55 nm to 4.13 nm as the calcination temperature increases from 400℃ to 600℃. The high calcination temperature can enhance the crystalline quality and grain growth. The oxygen content decreases with decreasing calcination temperature; at a low temperature of 400℃, Zn-Cu-codoped SnO2 nanoparticles are in a rather oxygen-poor state having many oxygen vacancies. The optical band gap energies of Zn-Cu-codoped SnO2 nanoparticles calcined at 400℃ and 600℃ are decreased from 3.93 eV to 3.62 eV due to quantum confinement effects. Both samples exhibit room-temperature ferromagnetism, with a larger saturation magnetization at 400℃ due to the presence of large density of defects such as oxygen vacancies. Zn-Cu-codoped SnO2 nanoparticles exhibit large optical band gap energies and room temperature ferromagnetism, which make them potential candidates for applications in optoelectronics and spintronics.
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