Structural, optical, and magnetic properties of Mn-doped ZnO samples

This study investigated the microstructure, optical, and magnetic properties of Zn 1−x Mn x O powder samples with x = 0.02–0.08 synthesized by a solid-state reaction route. X-ray diffraction revealed that the cell parameters, a and c, increased with the increase in Mn content, which indicated that Mn ions substitute into the lattice of ZnO. UV–vis measurements revealed that the band gap decreased due to the incorporation of Mn. Photoluminescence studies confirmed the formation of oxygen vacancies (V O ) in all samples. Magnetic measurements revealed that all samples exhibited room temperature ferromagnetism (RTFM), and the average magnetic moment per Mn atom decreased as the Mn content, and annealing temperature (T A ) increased. However, our results indicate that the ferromagnetic property is an intrinsic property of the ZnO:Mn samples due to V O and/or defects, and it does not originate from any secondary magnetic phase.