Oxygen vacancies effects on phase diagram of epitaxial La_(1-x)Sr_xMnO_3 thin films

We investigated the effects of oxygen vacancies on the structural,magnetic,and transport properties of La_(1-x)Sr_xMnO_3(x=0.1,0.2,0.33,0.4,and 0.5)grown around a critical point(without/with oxygen vacancies)under low oxygen pressure(10 Pa)and high oxygen pressure(40 Pa).We found that all films exhibit ferromagnetic behavior below the magnetic critical temperature,and that the films grown under low oxygen pressures have degraded magnetic properties with lower Curie temperatures and smaller magnetic moments.These results show that in epitaxial La_(1-x)Sr_xMnO_3 thin films,the magnetic and transport properties are very sensitive to doping concentration and oxygen vacancies.Phase diagrams of the films based on the doping concentration and oxygen vacancies were plotted and discussed.     

单相Na0.5Bi0.5Ti1-xMnxO3陶瓷中的多铁性

溶胶凝胶法制备了Na0.5Bi0.5Ti1-xMnxO3(x=0,0.02,0.04)陶瓷样品,X射线衍射(XRD)分析表明陶瓷样品均形成了单一的钙钛矿(ABO3)型结构且没有杂质相的形成.随着Mn含量的增加,XRD峰向高角度方向移动,表明Mn离子进入Na0.5Bi0.5TiO3晶格.掺杂样品均表现出室温铁磁性和铁电性.磁测量表明样品中存在复杂的磁相互作用,包括铁磁,反铁磁和顺磁相互作用.以上结果表明,通过Mn的掺杂可以使铁电材料Na0.5Bi0.5TiO3转变为多铁材料.     

Fe掺杂ZnO块材样品的结构、形貌及磁性

采用共沉淀法在O2、Air、Ar等不同气氛下制备了名义组分为Zn0.98Fe0.02O的系列块材样品,实验上研究了烧结气氛对样品结构、形貌及磁性质的影响.XRD和SEM结果均显示,在Air和O2气氛中烧结的样品中缺陷较少,具有更好的结晶性.磁测量结果表明,在Air和O2氛中烧结的样品则未表现出明显的磁性特征,而在Ar气氛中烧结的样品在室温下呈现出弱铁磁性行为.样品中的弱铁磁性可能来源于与氧空位有关的束缚磁极化子间的铁磁耦合作用.该样品的HC和MR在低温下表现出反常变化,可能与磁畴壁移动有关.     

A close correlation between induced ferromagnetism and oxygen deficiency in Fe doped In2O3

We report on the reversible manipulation of room temperature ferromagnetism in Fe (5%) doped In₂O₃ polycrystalline magnetic semiconductor. The X-ray diffraction and photoemission measurements confirm that the Fe ions are well incorporated into the lattice, substituting the In³⁺ ions. The magnetization measurements show that the host In₂O₃ has a diamagnetic ground state, while it shows weak ferromagnetism at 300 K upon Fe doping. The as-prepared sample was then sequentially annealed in hydrogen, air, vacuum and finally in air. The ferromagnetic signal shoots up by hydrogenation as well as vacuum annealing and bounces back upon re-annealing the samples in air. The sequence of ferromagnetism shows a close inter-relationship with the behavior of oxygen vacancies (V_o). The Fe ions tend to a transform from 3+ to 2+ state during the giant ferromagnetic induction, as revealed by photoemission spectroscopy. A careful characterization of the structure, purity, magnetic, and transport properties confirms that the ferromagnetism is due to neither impurities nor clusters but directly related to the oxygen vacancies. The ferromagnetism can be reversibly controlled by these vacancies while a parallel variation of carrier concentration, as revealed by resistance measurements, appears to be a side effect of the oxygen vacancy variation.     

Structural and magnetic properties of Mn-doped ZnO powders

A mixture of bi(acetylacetonato) zinc(II)hydrate and tris(acetylacetonato) manganese(III) complexes was thermally co-dissociated to synthesize Mn-doped ZnO powders. In order to examine the effect of oxygen vacancies on the ferromagnetic coupling of Mn ions, two preparation routes were used: in route (I) the preparation was done in an open environment, whereas in route (II) the preparation was done in a closed environment. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) and the X-ray fluorescence (XRF) measurements indicate that the Mn content in the three samples are 3.9% (I), 3.3% (II) and 4.2% (II). The XRD results showed that the Mn ions were incorporated in the ZnO crystal and that a Zn_1−xMn_xO solid solution has formed. The magnetic characterization indicated that only samples prepared via route (II) exhibited a room temperature ferromagnetic component of magnetization. Furthermore, magnetic analysis showed that the magnetic moment per dopant ion in the samples examined was in the range of 4.2-6.1 μ_B/Mn. The percentages of coupled Mn atoms to the total number of Mn atoms were found to be extremely small (less than 0.1%), which by itself cannot explain the observed RT hysteresis loops. Thus, in order to produce long-range ferromagnetic order in these samples, the FM coupling has to be mediated via defects. The observed FM in this study may be attributed to the presence of oxygen vacancies, which mediate the ferromagnetic exchange between the coupled Mn ions. This is consistent with the bound magnetic polarons (BMP) model where defects like oxygen vacancies cause the polarons to overlap and give rise to a long-range ferromagnetic order in dilute magnetic semiconductors (DMS).     

Correlations of structural, magnetic, and dielectric properties of undoped and doped CaCu3Ti4O12

The present work reports synthesis, as well as a detailed and careful characterization of structural, magnetic, and dielectric properties of differently tempered undoped and doped CaCu₃Ti₄O₁₂ (CCTO) ceramics. For this purpose, neutron and X-ray powder diffraction, SQUID measurements, and dielectric spectroscopy have been performed. Mn-, Fe-, and Ni-doped CCTO ceramics were investigated in great detail to document the influence of low-level doping with 3d metals on the antiferromagnetic structure and dielectric properties. In the light of possible magnetoelectric coupling in these doped ceramics, the dielectric measurements were also carried out in external magnetic fields up to 7 T. At low temperatures the dielectric constant shows a minor but significant dependence on the applied magnetic field. Undoped CCTO is well-known for its colossal dielectric constant in a broad frequency and temperature range. With the present extended characterization of doped as well as undoped CCTO, we want to address the question why doping with only 1% Mn or 0.5% Fe decreases the room-temperature dielectric constant of CCTO by a factor of ~100 with a concomitant reduction of the conductivity, whereas 0.5% Ni doping changes the dielectric properties only slightly. In addition, diffraction experiments and magnetic investigations were undertaken to check for possible correlations of the magnitude of the colossal dielectric constants with structural details or with magnetic properties like the magnetic ordering, the Curie-Weiss temperatures, or the paramagnetic moment. It is revealed, that while the magnetic ordering temperature and the effective moment of all investigated CCTO ceramics are rather similar, there is a dramatic influence of doping and tempering time on the Curie-Weiss constant.     

Oxygen vacancies effects on phase diagram of epitaxial La<Subscript>1–<Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript>Sr<Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript>MnO<Subscript>3</Subscript> thin films

We investigated the effects of oxygen vacancies on the structural, magnetic, and transport properties of La_1–x Sr _x MnO₃ (x=0.1, 0.2, 0.33, 0.4, and 0.5) grown around a critical point (without/with oxygen vacancies) under low oxygen pressure (10 Pa) and high oxygen pressure (40 Pa). We found that all films exhibit ferromagnetic behavior below the magnetic critical temperature, and that the films grown under low oxygen pressures have degraded magnetic properties with lower Curie temperatures and smaller magnetic moments. These results show that in epitaxial La_1–x Sr _x MnO₃ thin films, the magnetic and transport properties are very sensitive to doping concentration and oxygen vacancies. Phase diagrams of the films based on the doping concentration and oxygen vacancies were plotted and discussed.     

The influence of oxygen vacancies on the electronic and magnetic properties of perovskite-like SrFeO3-x

The electronic, magnetic properties and lattice relaxations of oxygen-deficient cubic strontium ferrite, SrFeO_2.875, in ferromagnetic configuration are studied by means of the density functional theory using LCAO basis (SIESTA code) calculations. It is shown that Fe and Sr atoms are displaced from oxygen vacancies while oxygen anions are attracted to the vacancies. The DOS distributions, magnetic moments and atomic effective charges are analyzed in comparison with vacancy free SrFeO₃; these parameters are found to change weakly with appearance of oxygen vacancies, in contrast to conventional ionic picture. Some strengthening of Fe-O covalent bonds in the vicinity of the oxygen vacancy is found. The formation energy of oxygen vacancies and divacancies are evaluated.     

二氧化铈基稀磁氧化物的第一性原理研究

基于第一性原理的计算方法研究了纯CeO_2、Co掺杂CeO_2和同时引入氧空位Vo和Co掺杂的CeO_2稀磁半导体体系.通过计算体系的能带结构和态密度,探讨了该体系磁性产生的机制.计算发现,纯CeO_2体系不具有磁性;没有氧空位Vo的Co掺杂CeO_2体系中,Co离子之间通过O原子发生超交换反铁磁耦合,体系无铁磁性;当氧空位Vo和Co离子同时存在于CeO_2体系中时,Co离子之间通过氧空位Vo发生铁磁耦合,该体系表现出铁磁性能.另外,由氧空位Vo诱导的Co离子之间的铁磁耦合不仅发生在紧邻的两个Co离子,而且可以扩展到几个原子距离的长度.计算结果证明了氧空位Vo诱导铁磁性耦合机制.本文工作将为CeO_2基稀磁半导体体系制备与磁学性质的研究提供支持.     

Structural and Magnetic Properties of Fe-Doped Anatase TiO2 Films Annealed in Vacuum

Structural and magnetic properties of Fe-doped anatase TiO2 films fabricated by sol-gel spin coating are investigated. X-ray diffraction measurements reveal that Fe^3＋ ions are incorporated into the TiO2 lattice. No ferromagnetism-related secondary phases and magnetic nanopaxticles are observed in the films. The presence of electron paramagnetic resonance signals at 9- 2.0 supports oxygen vacancies and/or defects generated in the films after annealing in vacuum. Magnetic measurements indicate that Fe-doped anatase TiO2 films are ferromagnetic at room temperature. These observations suggest that oxygen vacancies and/or defects axe energetically favorable for the long range Fe^3＋-Fe^3＋ ferromagnetic coupling in Fe-doped anatase TiO2 films.     

Na0.25K0.25Bi0.5TiO3无铅压电陶瓷的介电特性研究

用固相反应法制备了Na_0.25K_0.25Bi_0.5TiO₃ (NKBT50)陶瓷，研究了该陶瓷在室温至400℃温度范围内的介电性能.发现该陶瓷的介电温谱与烧结气氛、极化状态有关.在空气中烧结的未极化样品在70℃附近存在介电和损耗峰，而极化后及在氧气氛中烧结的样品并不存在该介电、损耗峰.分析认为70℃的介电和损耗峰与氧空位形成的缺陷偶极子的极化弛豫有关.热激电流显示，陶瓷的去极化温度为225℃，与此相对应的介电、损耗峰也 关键词： 介电性能 氧空位 极化弛豫 钛酸铋钠钾     

The role of Co impurities and oxygen vacancies in the ferromagnetism of Co-doped SnO2: GGA and GGA+U studies

The electronic structure and ferromagnetic stability of Co-doped SnO₂ are studied using the first-principle density functional method within the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) and GGA+U schemes. The addition of effective U_Co transforms the ground state of Co-doped SnO₂ to insulating from half-metallic and the coupling between the nearest neighbor Co spins to weak antimagnetic from strong ferromagnetic. GGA+U_Co calculations show that the pure substitutional Co defects in SnO₂ cannot induce the ferromagnetism. Oxygen vacancies tend to locate near Co atoms. Their presence increases the magnetic moment of Co and induces the ferromagnetic coupling between two Co spins with large Co-Co distance. The calculated density of state and spin density distribution calculated by GGA+U_Co show that the long-range ferromagnetic coupling between two Co spins is mediated by spin-split impurity band induced by oxygen vacancies. More charge transfer from impurity to Co-3d states and larger spin split of Co-3d and impurity states induced by the addition of U_Co enhance the ferromagnetic stability of the system with oxygen vacancies. By applying a Coulomb U_O on O 2 s orbital, the band gap is corrected for all calculations and the conclusions derived from GGA+U_Co calculations are not changed by the correction of band gap.     

First-principle study of magnetism in Co-doped SnO2

The effects of Co dopants and oxygen vacancies on the electronic structure and magnetic properties of the Co-doped SnO₂ are studied by the first-principle calculations in full-potential linearized augmented plane wave formalism within generalized gradient approximations. The Co atoms favorably substitute on neighboring sites of the metal sublattice. Without oxygen vacancies, the Co atoms are at low spin state independent of concentration and distribution of Co atoms, and only the magnetic coupling between nearest-neighbor Co atoms is ferromagnetic through direct exchange and super-exchange interaction. Oxygen vacancies tend to locate near the Co atoms. Their presence strongly increases the local magnetic moments of Co atoms, which depend sensitively on the concentration and distribution of Co atoms. Moreover, oxygen vacancies can induce the long-range ferromagnetic coupling between well-separated Co atoms through the spin-split impurity band exchange mechanism. Thus the room temperature ferromagnetism observed experimentally in the Co-doped SnO₂ may originate from the combination of short-range direct exchange and super-exchange interaction and the long-range spin-split impurity band exchange model.     

Optimization of Pr(0.9)Ca(0.1)MnO(3) thin films and observation of coexisting spin-glass and ferromagnetic phases at low temperature

Optimization of thin films of small bandwidth manganite, Pr(1-x)Ca(x)MnO3 (for x = 0.1), and their magnetic properties are investigated. Using different pulsed laser deposition (PLD) conditions, several films were deposited from the stoichiometric target material on SrTiO3 (001) substrate and their thorough structural and magnetic characterizations were carried out using x-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), SQUID magnetometry and ac susceptibility measurements. A systematic investigation shows that irrespective of the growth temperature (between 550 and 750?°C), all the as-deposited films have twin boundaries and magnetic double phases. Post-annealing in partial or full oxygen pressure removes the extra phase and the twin boundaries. Zero-field-cooled magnetization data show an antiferromagnetic to paramagnetic transition at around 100 K whereas the field-cooled magnetization data exhibit a paramagnetic to ferromagnetic transition close to 120 K. However, depending on the oxygen treatments, the saturation magnetization and Curie temperature of the films change significantly. Redistribution of oxygen vacancies due to annealing treatments leading to a change in ratio of Mn3+ and Mn4+ in the films is observed from XPS measurements. Low temperature (below 100 K) dc magnetization of these films shows metamagnetic transition, high coercivity and irreversibility magnetizations, indicating the presence of a spin-glass phase at low temperature. The frequency dependent shift in spin-glass freezing temperature from ac susceptibility measurement confirms the coexistence of spin-glass and ferromagnetic phases in these samples at low temperature.     

Effect of magnetic annealing on magnetization of BiFeO3 ceramics

The effect of magnetic annealing treatment on the magnetization of multiferroic BiFeO₃ was studied systematically. A series of pelletized nano-sized BiFeO₃ powders were annealed at high temperature under different magnetic fields. Typical ferromagnetic hysteresis loops were obtained at room temperature of the ceramics which were derived from ferromagnetic BiFeO₃ precursors. On the other hand, antiferromagnetic behaviors were observed in other samples synthesized from nonmagnetic precursors. The enhanced magnetic properties were ascribed to the magnetic anisotropy which was induced by the strong magnetic fields. This work indicates that the strong magnetic annealing method is an alternative approach to tuning the magnetic properties of high performance multiferroic materials with canted antiferromagnetic ordering.     

Competition between ferromagnetic and anti-ferromagnetic couplings in Co doped ZnO with vacancies and Ga co-dopants

Spin-polarized first-principles electronic structure and total energy calculations have been performed to better understand the magnetic properties of Co doped ZnO (ZnO:Co) with vacancies and Ga co-dopants. The paramagnetic state of ZnO:Co, in which Co ions lose their magnetic moments, has been found to be unstable. The total energy results show that acceptor-like Zn vacancies and donor-like Ga co-dopants render the anti-ferromagnetic (AFM) and ferromagnetic (FM) states to be more favorable, respectively. With O vacancies, ZnO:Co has been found to be in the weak FM state. These magnetic properties can be understood by the calculated O- and Zn-vacancies and Ga co-dopant induced changes of the electronic structure, which suggest that AFM and FM Co-Co couplings are mediated by O 2p-Co majority (↑)-spin 3d hybridized states in the valence band of ZnO and O-vacancy-derived p states or Ga sp states in the ZnO band gap, respectively. For ZnO:Co with Zn vacancies (Ga co-dopants) the AFM (FM) coupling outweighs the FM (AFM) coupling and results in the AFM (FM) state, while for ZnO:Co with O vacancies, both the FM and AFM couplings are enhanced by similar degrees and result in the weak FM state. This study reveals a competition between FM and AFM couplings in ZnO:Co with vacancies and Ga co-dopants, the detailed balancing between which determines the magnetic properties of these materials.     

Size effects on the magnetic and optical properties of CuO nanoparticles

Optical and magnetic studies on CuO nanoparticles prepared by a chemical route are reported and the effect of size variation on these properties is discussed. SEM images show that the nanoparticles are interlinked into microspheres with the cages containing visible nanoscale holes. Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy indicates a consistent red shift in the fundamental band gap (indirect band gap) from 1.23 to 1 eV as the size decreases from 29 to 11 nm. This observed red shift is attributed to the presence of defect states within the band gap. A clear blue shift is observed in the direct band gap of these nanoparticles presumably due to the quantum confinement effects. Air-annealed samples show a paramagnetic response whereas particles annealed in a reducing atmosphere show additionally a weak ferromagnetic component at room temperature. For both types of particles, the paramagnetic and ferromagnetic moments, respectively, increase with decreasing size. The role of oxygen vacancies is understood to relate to the generation of free carriers mediating ferromagnetism between Cu spins. AC susceptibility measurements show both the antiferromagnetic transitions of CuO including the one at 231 K which is associated with the onset of the spiral antiferromagnetic phase transition.     

EELS characterisation of bulk CaCu3Ti4O12 ceramics

CaCu3Ti4O12 (CCTO) is a cubic perovskite phase and sintered ceramics exhibit high permittivity at room temperature. Electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS) and energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDS) data have been collected from samples of CCTO to relate the observed electrical properties to the microstructure and chemistry on the nanoscale. CCTO ceramics were sintered for 24h at 1115 degrees C in air, giving a grain size of 50-300 microm. Ti L(2,3)-, Cu L(2,3)- and O K-edge EEL data were collected for bulk CCTO (within grain) and compared with well characterised Ti-oxides, CaTiO3 and BaTiO3 perovskites. The bulk metal L(2,3)-edge data for CCTO suggest that Cu is divalent and Ti is present as Ti4+. The O K-edge of CCTO shows increased near-edge structure (NES) compared to those of the simple perovskites.     

Room temperature ferromagnetic pure ZnO

Pure ZnO films were prepared by pulsed laser deposition on oxidized Si substrates under different oxygen pressure and substrate temperature. Clear room temperature ferromagnetism has been observed in the ZnO film prepared under high vacuum and room temperature. The observation of anomalous Hall effect confirms the intrinsic nature of the ferromagnetism. The photoluminescence and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy spectra show the high concentration of oxygen vacancies in the ferromagnetic ZnO film. Our results clearly demonstrate the ferromagnetic contribution of the oxygen vacancies mediated by the spin polarized electrons hopping between discrete states in pure ZnO.     

The effect of surfactants on the magnetic and optical properties of Co-doped SnO2 nanoparticles

A series of Co-doped SnO₂ nanoparticles have been synthesized by the co-precipitation route. Different amounts of surfactant have been used in order to study the effect of surfactants (CTAB) on the magnetic and optical properties. Structural analyses reveal that Co dopants are substituted into rutile SnO₂ nanoparticles without forming any secondary phase. The increase of the surfactant promotes the adsorption of organic molecules on the surfaces of nanoparticles. Meanwhile, both the ferromagnetism and the orange emission drop progressively. The dependence of ferromagnetic properties on the surfactant concentration could be explained based on the bound magnetic polaron, where the carriers are provided by oxygen vacancies. XANES spectra reveal that the electrons transfer from Co 3d bands to the surfactant ions. Such electron-transfer process suppresses the formation of oxygen vacancies and leads to the decline of the ferromagnetism and optical emission.