On the preparation, structural and magnetic properties of ZnO:Co nanoparticles

PG and Research Department of Physics, Sri Paramakalyani College, Tirunelveli 627 412, Tamil Nadu, India

^a e-mail: rvseshan@gmail.com

Received: 4 July 2013
Revised: 13 January 2014
Accepted: 7 March 2014
Published online: 24 April 2014

Abstract

Cobalt doped ZnO nanoparticles were synthesized by microwave irradiation technique for their structural and magnetic properties. Initially the samples were exhibit single phase standard ZnO wurtzite structure (x ≤ 0.1) further Co concentration increase Co₃O₄ phase was confirmed by X-ray diffraction analysis. The average crystallite sizes of cobalt doped ZnO particles were calculated by Debye-Scherrer formula and are nearly 25 nm. The hexagonal wurtzite structure of ZnO and destroyed cubical Co₃O₄ were identified in the TEM images. The presence of metal oxide was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectral analysis result. The micro-Raman analysis confirmed the existence of Co₃O₄ phase. Magnetization measurements performed by using vibrating sample magnetometer determine the paramagnetic behavior for the synthesized samples.