Effect of Annealing on the Structural and Magnetic Properties of 3% Sm Doped ZnO

Abstract

The present study focuses on the structural and magnetic properties of Sm doped ZnO at 3% concentrations.These compounds have been synthesized by a chemical coprecipitation method and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and magnetization method (M-H). The XRD pattern of all the samples showed ZnO hexagonal wurtzite structure with sharp and intense peaks with small change in lattice parameters due to Sm doping in ZnO, indicating the substitution of Sm ion for Zn sites. Magnetic measurements show an enhancement in room temperature ferromagnetism (RTFM) with Sm doping. Ferromagnetic behavior exists over and above the diamagnetic behavior, RTFM related to The Zn vacancies and diamagnetic (which exists over alarge scale) related to the oxygen vacancies which mediate the interaction of dopant ions.