Room Temperature Ferromagnetism in ZnO Nanoparticles Synthesized by Auto Combustion Technique

Abstract

Polycrystalline ZnO nanoparticles having average size in the range of 60 to 70 nm were synthesized by auto combustion technique. X-ray diffraction and selected area electron diffraction measurements imply that ZnO nanoparticles exhibit single phase polycrystalline nature with wurtzite lattice. Magnetic measurement at room temperature shows that ZnO nanoparticles are ferromagnetic in nature with a saturation magnetization of 3.73 x 10(-1) emu/gm. The observation of ferromagnetism is consistent with the prediction that the oxygen vacancies developed during the synthesis process give rise to a ferromagnetic state. The experimental findings obtained from micro-Raman and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy reveal the presence of oxygen vacancies.