Synthesis and characterization of Fe and Ni co-doped ZnO nanorods synthesized by a hydrothermal method

Diluted magnetic semiconductors Zn0.95Fe0.05−xNixO (x=0, 0.02 and 0.05) nanorods were successfully synthesized by a hydrothermal method, and the microstructure, morphology, optical and magnetic properties of the samples were characterized. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) results reveal that all samples synthesized by this method possess a hexagonal wurtzite crystal structure, without other impurity phases. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) images show that the morphology of nanorods and the samples is well dispersed. X-ray energy dispersive spectrometry (XEDS) indicates Fe2+ and Ni2+ successfully substitute for the lattice site of Zn2+ and generate single-phase Zn0.95Fe0.05−xNixO. The ultraviolet−visible (UV–vis) spectroscopy analysis indicates that the optical band gap decreases with increasing of Fe and Ni doping concentration. The vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) reveals that the doped samples exhibit ferromagnetic at room temperature.