Resonant valence bond states in zinc vacancies induce the ferromagnetism of ZnO

A theoretical model was proposed to investigate the mechanism of ferromagnetism in ZnO as well as to simulate the experimental result that the ferromagnetism can be enhanced by UV irradiation as UV photon energy is equivalent to the band gap. In the model, the spin moments arise from the trapped electrons in oxygen vacancy states and coexist with the itinerant electrons which reside in zinc vacancy states and fall into resonant valence bond states. Charge exchange between the conduction band of ZnO and both vacancy states makes electrons on both vacancy states delocalized and results in a decrease of the ferromagnetism as well. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.