| Title: |
Unraveling the Origin of Magnetism in Mesoporous Cu-Doped SnO2 Magnetic Semiconductors |
| Authors: |
Junpeng Fan, Enric Menéndez, Miguel Guerrero, Alberto Quintana, Eugen Weschke, Eva Pellicer, Jordi Sort |
| Source: |
Nanomaterials, Vol 7, Iss 11, p 348 (2017) |
| Publisher Information: |
MDPI AG, 2017. |
| Publication Year: |
2017 |
| Collection: |
LCC:Chemistry |
| Subject Terms: |
nanocasting, mesoporous SnO2 particles, diluted magnetic semiconductors, Chemistry, QD1-999 |
| More Details: |
The origin of magnetism in wide-gap semiconductors doped with non-ferromagnetic 3d transition metals still remains intriguing. In this article, insights in the magnetic properties of ordered mesoporous Cu-doped SnO2 powders, prepared by hard-templating, have been unraveled. Whereas, both oxygen vacancies and Fe-based impurity phases could be a plausible explanation for the observed room temperature ferromagnetism, the low temperature magnetism is mainly and unambiguously arising from the nanoscale nature of the formed antiferromagnetic CuO, which results in a net magnetization that is reminiscent of ferromagnetic behavior. This is ascribed to uncompensated spins and shape-mediated spin canting effects. The reduced blocking temperature, which resides between 30 and 5 K, and traces of vertical shifts in the hysteresis loops confirm size effects in CuO. The mesoporous nature of the system with a large surface-to-volume ratio likely promotes the occurrence of uncompensated spins, spin canting, and spin frustration, offering new prospects in the use of magnetic semiconductors for energy-efficient spintronics. |
| Document Type: |
article |
| File Description: |
electronic resource |
| Language: |
English |
| ISSN: |
2079-4991 |
| Relation: |
https://www.mdpi.com/2079-4991/7/11/348; https://doaj.org/toc/2079-4991 |
| DOI: |
10.3390/nano7110348 |
| Access URL: |
https://doaj.org/article/6e6fee1bfd254ea29737ee36f35189e0 |
| Accession Number: |
edsdoj.6e6fee1bfd254ea29737ee36f35189e0 |
| Database: |
Directory of Open Access Journals |
