Room Temperature Ferromagnetism in Fe-Doped CeO2 Nanoparticles

RT ferromagnetism was observed in nanoparticles of Fe-doped CeO2 (i.e., Ce0.97Fe0.03O2) Synthesized by a sol-gel method. The undoped and Fe-doped CeO2 were characterized by XRD, Raman spectroscopy, TEM, and VSM. The undoped samples and Ce0.9Fe0.03O2 precursor exhibit a diamagnetic behavior. The 673 K-calcined Ce0.97Fe0.03O2 sample is paramagnetic whereas 773 and 873 K-calcined Ce0.97Fe0.03O2 samples are ferromagnetism having the magnetizations of 4.65 x 10(-3) emu/g and 6.20 x 10(-3) emu/g at 10 kOe, respectively. Our results indicate that the ferromagnetic property is intrinsic to the Fe-doped CeO2 system and is not a result of any secondary magnetic phase or cluster formation.