Title: Structural, dielectric and diluted magnetic semiconductor responses in doped ZnO nanoparticles for spin-based electronics

Abstract

The effect of Cerium and Cobalt co-doping on the structure, dielectric and magnetic responses of Cerium (fixed) and Co co doped ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) annealed in an air/oxygen (O2) atmosphere at 600°C was studied. High co-doping caused a reduction in dielectric properties due to the substitution of Cerium (fixed) and Cobalt ions into the host ZnO. Substitution of Zinc ions with Cerium (fixed) and Cobalt ions enhanced the dielectric and electrical conductivities of the samples due to an increase in available charge carriers. A significant change in the hysteresis loop was observed and characterized by the change from diamagnetic response of ZnO to ferromagnetic (FM) when co-doped with Cerium (fixed) and Cobalt ions. Room temperature ferromagnetism (RTFM) in the ZnO lattice samples mainly emanated from oxygen vacancies and Zinc interstitials. However, with changes in dopant concentration only from 1% to 2% and then 4%, remanant magnetization (Mr) first increased from 0.4213 emu/g to 0.5688 emu/g and then decreased drastically to 0.4638 emu/g. The enhanced dielectric and magnetic properties of the 2% co-doped sample are strongly correlated to the increase in O2 vacancies. The Ce and Co doped is a new study for diluted magnetism semiconductor applications. Therefore, this high ferromagnetism is best or spin based electronics. In this work, results have demonstrated that (Cerium (fixed), Cobalt) co-doped ZnO have tuneable RTFM, and the introduction of O2 vacancies is an approach to enhance high-temperature ferromagnetism. These co-doped ZnO nanoparticles are best for Spin-based electronics and Memristive devices for Resistive Random Access Memory (RRAM) Applications.