Room temperature ferromagnetism in Mn-doped zinc oxide nanorods prepared by hybrid wet chemical route

Mn-doped (2.6-4.8 at%) aligned zinc oxide (Mn:ZnO) nanorod-films were synthesized by hybrid wet chemical route onto glass substrates. The chemical composition, structural, microstructural and magnetic studies were performed to investigate the origin of observed room temperature ferromagnetism (similar to 0.11 mu B/Mn) in these Mn doped ZnO nanorod-films. XPS studies indicated that incorporated Mn was in Mn2+ and Mn4+ states. Mn2+ atomic concentration was found to be significantly larger than Mn4+ concentration in all the samples. Disappearance of the Raman peak at similar to 577cm(-1) arising due to the Zn interstitials may be related to the substitution of Mn2+ in the Zn2+ site with annealing. Thus, Mn metal inclusions as Mn2+ in the ZnO lattice are possibly responsible for such large magnetic moment in the films. (C) 2011 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.