Synthesis and characterization of Mn-doped ZnO diluted magnetic semiconductors

In the present work undoped and Mn doped ZnO nanoparticles (ZnO:Mn), diluted magnetic semiconductors, were successfully synthesized by the sol-gel method at room temperature. The morphology of ZnO nanoparticles constituted by flower-like structures with hexagonal morphologies that changed significantly after the incorporation of Mn. Rietveld refinements results showed that Mn ions are successfully doped into ZnO matrix without altering its wurtzite phase. Meanwhile, Raman spectroscopy analyses confirm the wurtzite structure of undoped ZnO and ZnO:Mn nanoparticles. The lattice parameters increase with increasing Mn content due to the large ionic radius of Mn2+ compared to that of Zn2+. Electron spin resonance measurements were performed to gain information about oxidation state and site occupancy of the magnetic Mn ions in the ZnO lattice. Moreover, UV-vis absorption spectra have been utilized to calculate the optical band gap of the undoped ZnO and ZnO:Mn nanoparticles before and after different γ-irradiation doses. The band gap of ZnO:Mn (2%) is 2.62 eV which is noticeably smaller than the 3.26 eV of undoped ZnO. The thermal decomposition properties of the prepared nanoparticle samples were also studied using simultaneous Thermogravimetric analysis in temperature range from 30 to 500 °C.