Electronic structure and room temperature ferromagnetism of C doped TiO2

• C-doped TiO2 nanoparticles have been successfully synthesized using a simple hydrothermal synthesis method.
• The Ti K-edge and L-edge near edge X-ray absorption fine structure analyses clearly show that C atoms were successfully incorporated into TiO2 host lattice.
• The p–d hybridization between the Ti 3d and ligand 2p orbitals are plays an important role in room temperature ferromagnetism of C-doped TiO2 nanoparticles

C-doped TiO2 nanoparticles were successfully synthesized using a simple hydrothermal synthesis method. After this preparation, a portion of the samples were annealed separately in air on the one hand, and in argon on the other, and another portion remained untreated. The results of X-ray diffraction show that the untreated samples primarily display anatase and rutile structures. However, after annealing, the samples displayed the rutile structure only. The Ti K-edge and L-edge Near Edge X-ray Absorption Fine Structure analyses clearly show that C atoms were successfully incorporated into the TiO2 host lattice. All doped samples exhibit ferromagnetism at room temperature. The saturation magnetization (Ms) and coercive fields (Hc) tend to decrease after the samples are annealed in argon and in air. The maximum Ms of the untreated samples was approximately 0.038 emu/g.