Arvind Samariya

Role of electronic structure and oxygen defects in driving ferromagnetism in nondoped bulk CeO2

This article reports on reversible manipulation of room temperature ferromagnetism (RTFM) in nondoped bulk CeO2. The magnetization measurements establish that paramagnetic CeO2 is driven to a ferromagnetic state, without change in structure, when vacuum annealed at 600 °C. The Ce ions transform from 4+ to 3+ state, accompanied by evolution of oxygen vacancies (VO) during the RTFM transition, as determined by x-ray photoemission. The F+ centers (the electrons in singly occupied oxygen vacancies) play key role in the exchange mechanism. The transition shows complete reversibility where the RTFM is removed by removing the vacancies through re-heating the vacuum-annealed CeO2 in air.

Study of defect-induced ferromagnetism in hydrogenated anatase TiO2:Co

Electronic and magnetic properties of Co-doped TiO2 polycrystalline pellets (Ti0.95Co0.05O2) have been investigated using x-ray diffraction, x-ray photoemission, magnetization, and resistance measurements. The as-synthesized and hydrogenated specimens crystallize in the anatase type tetragonal structure containing very small (∼4.4%) rutile phase. The dopant ions of Co are found to be divalent and well incorporated into TiO2 lattice, substituting the Ti site within the anatase phase, with no evidence of metallic Co or any other oxides of Co. The Co doping induces a weak ferromagnetic ordering in the diamagnetic TiO2 host matrix. Interestingly, when the Co-doped TiO2 is annealed in hydrogen atmosphere, it shows a giant enhancement in magnetization. However, an extended reheating in air causes this H-induced magnetization to vanish and the sample regains the as-prepared status. Our findings indicate that ferromagnetism originates from the doped matrix rather than any magnetic clusters and strongly correlated...

Magnetization enhancement in nanocrystalline Co0.4Zn0.6Fe2O4 by 200 MeV Ag15+ ion irradiation

The effects of 200 MeV Ag15+ ion irradiation on the magnetic behavior of nano particles of Co0.4Zn0.6Fe2O4 have been studied using the field, temperature and time-dependent magnetization measurements. Rietveld profile refinement of the XRD patterns confirms the formation of a cubic spinel structure of the specimens retaining the spinel structure upon irradiation. The Ag15+ ion irradiation of the sample causes an appreciable enhancement in the saturation magnetization, coercivity, and remanent magnetization. These observations can be attributed to a slight increase in the particle size due to the heat evolved during the irradiation, cation redistribution, and irradiation-induced modifications on the surface states of the nanoparticles.

200 MeV Ag+15 ion irradiation-induced modifications in structural, magnetic and dielectric properties of nanoparticles of Cu0.2Zn0.8Fe2O4 ferrite

The present investigation aims at studying the effect of swift heavy ion irradiation on the structural, magnetic and dielectric properties of the nanocrystalline Cu0.2Zn0.8Fe2O4 spinel ferrite. The sample was synthesised using the sol–gel technique and then irradiated with the 200 MeV Ag+15 ion beam. The Rietveld profile refinement of the X-ray diffraction patterns confirmed the cubic spinel structure of samples. The spherical morphology revealed through transmission electron microscopy images was consistent with the crystalline diameter. The overall magnetic behaviour pointed towards superparamagnetic relaxation at room temperature along with the significant increase in saturation magnetisation, coercivity and blocking temperature after irradiation. This could be attributed to the slight increase in the particle size and ion-induced modifications on the surface states of the nanoparticles. The enhancement in dielectric constant and loss tangent after irradiation could be attributed to the available Fe+2 ↔ Fe+3 and/or Zn+2 ↔ Zn+3 ion polarisation at the octahedral site, especially on grain boundaries of the sample.

Study of room temperature ferromagnetism for cobalt and manganese doped ZnO diluted magnetic semiconductor

We report the results of electronic and magnetic properties of poly-crystalline Zn1-xMxO (M = Co and Mn) pellets studied by XRD, VSM and XPS. The specimens were synthesized by solid state reaction method using high purity oxides. Samples exhibit Wurtzite hexagonal symmetry and show interesting magnetic properties. The Co (5%) doped sample prepared by heating in air shows a paramagnetic state in agreement with several claims. But the sample prepared by heating in Ar atmosphere depicts ferromagnetic ordering. Addition of 2% Mn in it further enhances its magnetic moment. The specimens ZnCoO (Ar heated) and ZnCoMnO were hydrogenated at 550°C that caused a significant change in their magnetization. The Co doped ZnO shows a robust increment in the magnetic moment but the Mn doping does not seem to respond to hydrogenation. O 1s XPS results show clear evidence of oxygen depletion for the samples prepared by heating in Ar atmosphere and a further depletion upon hydrogenation. Results suggest oxygen vacancies as the basic origin for room temperature ferromagnetism in doped ZnO.

Effect of 200 MeV Ag+15 ion irradiation on magnetic and dielectric properties of nanocrystalline Zn–Cr ferrite

Nanocrystalline samples of ZnCr0.4Fe1.6O4 ferrite were synthesized by the advanced sol–gel method to investigate the effect of 200 MeV Ag+15 ion irradiation on the cation distribution, magnetic and dielectric properties. Rietveld profile refinement of the X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns confirms the single-phase cubic spinel structure of the specimens. The irradiated sample retains the cubic spinel structure with a slight increase in the lattice parameters and the average crystallite size. Temperature- and field-dependent dc magnetization studies show an appreciable enhancement in the saturation magnetization and blocking temperature of the irradiated samples, which could be attributed to the slight increase in the particle size due to the heat evolved during irradiation. Subsequently, the rearrangement of cations in the lattice structure and the ion-induced modifications on the surface states of the nanoparticles could be accountable. The room temperature dielectric constant and the loss tangent in the frequency range 75 kHz–10 MHz revealed the normal frequency dispersion. The increase in ϵr and tan δ on irradiation could be attributed to the slight crystal growth and hence the availability of the sufficient number of Fe2+ and/or Zn3+ ions particularly at the octahedral site on the grain boundaries, showing a fair agreement with the magnetization results.

Retraction Note to: Sol–gel synthesized high anisotropy magnetic nanoparticles of NiCrxFe2−xO4

The nanoparticles of NiCrxFe2−xO4 were synthesized through sol–gel reactions involving nitrates of Ni, Cr and Fe in an aqueous medium containing citric acid. The cubic spinel structure in single phase with nanometric crystallite size of ~5 nm, the spherical morphology and magnetic relaxations were examined through XRD, TEM and Mossbauer techniques. The abnormal occurrence of finite remanance (Mr) and coercivity (Hc) resulted in the room temperature dc magnetization measurements for the small particles authenticate the ferrimagnetic regime, as proposed by the room temperature Mossbauer results of the samples, with a proximate superparamagnetic regime still at lower particle volumes. This could be attributed to the antiferromagnetic spin interactions of chromium ions at octahedral sites and subsequently the over-occupancy of the rest of the cations at tetrahedral sites. In justification to this, the magnetocrystalline anisotropy constant, K, is estimated to have value relatively high of the order of 107 erg/cm3 at room temperature for all studied concentrations.

MAGNETIC BEHAVIOR OF FUNCTIONALLY MODIFIED SPINEL Ni0.4Ca0.6Fe2O4 NANOFERRITE

The editorial board discovered that the data points in several sections of the Mossbauer spectra as given in Figs. 3(a) and 3(b) are exactly identical. This is impossible and nonphysical for the measurement of two different samples (or for that matter not even for the same sample!). The only conclusion we can draw from this figure is that some of the data is fabricated. As a result, the results and conclusions as described in the paper are unacceptable. This article is retracted from its publication in Int. J. Mod. Phys. B.

Electronic and magnetic correlations in Mn doped ZnO nano-rods

We have investigated correlation between magnetization and electronic structure in Zn0.98Mn0.02O nano-rods. Rietveld analysis of XRD patterns confirms that Mn ions incorporate at the Zn2+ sites. SQUID measurements confirm that Mn doping induces room temperature ferromagnetism (RTFM) in nano-rods and the induced magnetization is an order of magnitude higher than that in the bulk Zn0.98Mn0.02O. The XPS results show that Mn ions are in mixed valent state. Our findings show that bivalence of Mn ions and the oxygen vacancies are responsible for the observed RTFM.

Magnetization and XPS study of pristine bulk In2O3

We demonstrate that room temperature ferromagnetism (RTFM) can be induced in pristine In2O3 bulk powder through hydrogenation. The oxygen vacancies (Vo) accompanied by defect complexes In2+–Vo are produced in hydrogenated In2O3. However, the ferromagnetic ordering disappears upon removing these Vo’s and defect complex upon re-heating the hydrogenated sample in air. The hydrogenation induced In3d–O2p hybridization, the defect complexes In2+–Vo and the Vo’s compositely contribute to observed ferromagnetic ordering.