Tweaking electrical and magnetic properties of Al–Ni co-doped ZnO nanopowders

The preparation of pure ZnO, doped [(Zn0.99M0.01)O] and co-doped [(Zn0.99Al.01-xNix)O: x= .005, .007] materials, where M=Al, Ni has been carried out by co-precipitation route. The results of various characterizations such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), Vibrating Sample Magnetometer (VSM) and dc conductivity measurements on these samples have been reported. The temperature variation of dc conductivity has been used to delineate the changes in the activation energy. A unique plot depicting the variation of activation energy with temperature has been obtained. These results show the potential of aluminium and nickel co-doped ZnO for spintronic applications.