Enhanced ferromagnetism by lithium doping in Sn0.95Fe0.05O2

• Sn0.95−x(Fe0.05,Lix)O2 (0≤x≤0.08) synthesized by solid-state reaction.
• Enhanced ferromagnetism by lithium doping in Sn0.95Fe0.05O2.
• New mechanism for enhanced ferromagnetism.
• Maximum nominal lithium doping level in Sn0.95−x(Fe0.05,Lix)O2 with well retaining the host structure.

Lithium doping effects on Sn0.95Fe0.05O2 were studied in terms of structural and magnetic properties. The nominal lithium doping level in Sn0.95−x(Fe0.05,Lix)O2 was achieved to x=0.06 with well retaining the host structure. Although the precise position and real content of lithium were hard to be determined by powder X-ray diffraction, the structure parameters, as well as the magnetic properties, actually show sensitivity to the doping. The most interesting observation herein is the remarkably enhanced ferromagnetism, possibly due to that the doped lithium favors the ferromagnetic exchange interaction in Sn0.95Fe0.05O2 through tuning the concentration of Fe3+ ions responsible for the magnetic interaction. The observation is very similar with those cases in other group-I elements doped diluted magnetic semiconductors, indicating possibly generic phenomena being significant for spintronics.