Effects of hydrogen annealing on the room temperature ferromagnetism and optical properties of Cr-doped ZnO nanoparticles

We explore the effects of hydrogen annealing on the room temperature ferromagnetism and optical properties of Cr-doped ZnO nanoparticles synthesized by the sol-gel method. X-ray diffraction and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy data show evidence that Cr has been incorporated into the wurtzite ZnO lattice as Cr2+ ions substituting for Zn2+ ions without any detectable secondary phase in as-synthesized Zn0.97Cr0.03O nanopowders. The room temperature magnetization measurements reveal a large enhancement of saturation magnetization Ms as well as an increase of coercivity of H2-annealed Zn0.97Cr0.03O:H samples. It is found that the field-cooled magnetization curves as a function of temperature from 40 to 400K can be well fitted by a combination of a standard Bloch spin-wave model and Curie–Weiss law. The values of the fitted parameters of the ferromagnetic exchange interaction constant a and the Curie constant C of H2-annealed Zn0.97Cr0.03O:H nanoparticles are almost doubled upon H2-annealing. Photoluminescence measurements show evidence that the shallow donor defect or/and defect complexes such as hydrogen occupying an oxygen vacancy Ho may play an important role in the origin of H2-annealing induced enhancement of ferromagnetism in Cr-H codoped ZnO nanoparticles. The H2-annealing induced enhancement of room temperature ferromagnetism in Cr-doped ZnO nanoparticles is observed. It is found that the field-cooled M-T curves can be well fitted by a combination of a standard Bloch spin-wave model and Curie–Weiss law. The values of the fitted parameters of the ferromagnetic exchange interaction constant a and the Curie constant C of H2-annealed Zn0.97Cr0.03O:H nanoparticles are almost doubled upon H2-annealing. The PL data show evidence that the hydrogen related shallow donor defect or/and defect complexes may be responsible for it. [Display omitted] ► The H2-annealing induced a large enhancement of ferromagnetism in Cr-doped ZnO. ► Upon hydrogen annealing the coercivity of Cr-doped ZnO nanoparticles increases. ► PL data show a large enhancement of defect-related UV emission upon H2-annealing. ► The field-cooled M-T curves are well fitted by a combined theoretical model. ► The shallow donor defect or/and defect complexes may contribute to the magnetism.