High resolution transmission electron microscopy and Raman scattering studies of room temperature ferromagnetic Ni-doped ZnO nanocrystals

Ni-doped ZnO nanocrystals have been synthesized by a wet chemical reaction. The nanocrystals have been investigated carefully by high resolution transmission electron microscopy and all the particles are found to be the known wurtzite ZnO. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Raman spectra results provide the evidence that Ni2+ is incorporated into the ZnO lattice at Zn2+ site. Magnetic property measurements reveal that the as-grown Zn1-xNixO nanocrystals exhibit room temperature ferromagnetic behaviors with saturation magnetization of 0.01 emu/g and Curie temperature above 340 K for Ni concentration of similar to 1% in atomic ratio.