Electronic structure, magnetic and structural properties of Ni doped ZnO nanoparticles

•XRD, and HR-TEM results show the single phase nature of Ni doped ZnO nanoparticles.•dc magnetization results indicate the RT-FM in Ni doped ZnO nanoparticles.•Ni L3,2 edge NEXAFS spectra infer that Ni ions are in +2 valence state.•O K edge NEXAFS spectra show that O vacancy increases with Ni doping in ZnO.

We report structural, magnetic and electronic structural properties of Ni doped ZnO nanoparticles prepared by auto-combustion method. The prepared nanoparticles were characterized by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), near edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy, and dc magnetization measurements. The XRD and HR-TEM results indicate that Ni doped ZnO nanoparticles have single phase nature with wurtzite lattice and exclude the presence of secondary phase. NEXAFS measurements performed at Ni L3,2-edges indicates that Ni ions are in +2 valence state and exclude the presence of Ni metal clusters. O K-edge NEXAFS spectra indicate an increase in oxygen vacancies with Ni-doping, while Zn L3,2-edge show the absence of Zn-vacancies. The magnetization measurements performed at room temperature shows that pure and Ni doped ZnO exhibits ferromagnetic behavior.

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