A possibility to obtain room temperature ferromagnetism by transition metal doping of ZnO nanoparticles

Based on the s-d model and using a Green's function technique, we have studied the influence of transition metal doping effects on different properties such as magnetization M, Curie temperature T(C), and coercive field H(c) of ZnO nanoparticles. We have shown that the experimentally obtained room temperature ferromagnetism is an intrinsic property and can be due to doping effects in ZnO nanoparticles. In dependence of the radii and the magnetic anisotropy of the dopants, we obtain a decrease or increase in M and Hc with increase in the Ni, Cu, Fe, Mn, V, and Co ion concentration. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3329457]