Effect of crystallization quality on ferromagnetism in Zn1 − xCoxO nanopowders

In this paper, a series of Zn1 − xCoxO nanocrystals with different cobalt percentages were fabricated by a simple chemical method, which were intensively explored for spintronics applications. X-ray diffraction (XRD), ultraviolet–visible (UV–Vis) spectrophotometer, transmission electron microscope (TEM) and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) were used to characterize the structures and magnetic properties of prepared samples. It was concluded that Co2+ was well inserted into ZnO wurtzite structure. The ferromagnetism of Zn1 − xCoxO nanopowders was observed at room temperature. The relation between crystallization quality and magnetism of Zn1 − xCoxO nanopowders was discussed in detail. It was demonstrated the crystallization quality of Zn1 − xCoxO nanocrystals had a strong effect on the ferromagnetism.