title: Structural, optical, and magnetic studies of manganese-doped zinc oxide hierarchical microspheres by self-assembly of nanoparticles.
abstract: In this study, a series of manganese [Mn]-doped zinc oxide [ZnO] hierarchical microspheres [HMSs] are prepared by hydrothermal method only using zinc acetate and manganese acetate as precursors and ethylene glycol as solvent. X-ray diffraction indicates that all of the as-obtained samples including the highest Mn (7 mol%) in the crystal lattice of ZnO have a pure phase (hexagonal wurtzite structure). A broad Raman spectrum from as-synthesized doping samples ranges from 500 to 600 cm-1, revealing the successful doping of paramagnetic Mn2+ ions in the host ZnO. Optical absorption analysis of the samples exhibits a blueshift in the absorption band edge with increasing dopant concentration, and corresponding photoluminescence spectra show that Mn doping suppresses both near-band edge UV emission and defect-related blue emission. In particular, magnetic measurements confirm robust room-temperature ferromagnetic behavior with a high Curie temperature exceeding 400 K, signifying that the as-formed Mn-doped ZnO HMSs will have immense potential in spintronic devices and spin-based electronic technologies.
authors.affiliation: Key Lab for Special Functional Materials of Ministry of Education, Henan University, Kaifeng, 475004, People's Republic of China. smzhou@henu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Yao-Ming
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Hao
authors.forename: Shi-Yun
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Lou
authors.forename: Shao-Min
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Rui-Jian
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.forename: Gong-Yu
authors.initials: GY
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Ning
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Li