Observation of the origin of d0 magnetism in ZnO nanostructures using X-ray-based microscopic and spectroscopic techniques

Role of Electronegativity in Environmentally Persistent Free Radicals (EPFRs) Formation on ZnO

Environmentally persistent free radicals (EPFRs), a group of emerging pollutants, have significantly longer lifetimes than typical free radicals. EPFRs form by the adsorption of organic precursors on a transition metal oxide (TMO) surface involving electron charge transfer between the organic and TMO. In this paper, dihalogenated benzenes were incorporated to study the role of electronegativity in the electron transfer process to obtain a fundamental knowledge of EPFR formation mechanism on ZnO. Upon chemisorption on ZnO nanoparticles at 250 °C, electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) confirms the formation of oxygen adjacent carbon-centered organic free radicals with concentrations between 1016 and 1017 spins/g. The radical concentrations show a trend of 1,2-dibromobenzene (DBB) > 1,2-dichlorobenzene (DCB) > 1,2-difluorobenzene (DFB) illustrating the role of electronegativity on the amount of radical formation. X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) confirms the reduction of the Zn2+ metal center, contrasting previous experimental evidence of an oxidative mechanism for ZnO single crystal EPFR formation. The extent of Zn reduction for the different organics (DBB > DCB > DFB) also correlates to their polarity. DFT calculations provide theoretical evidence of ZnO surface reduction and exhibit a similar trend of degree of reduction for different organics, further building on the experimental findings. The lifetimes of the EPFRs formed confirm a noteworthy persistency.

Chemical-state distributions in charged LiCoO2 cathode particles visualized by soft X-ray spectromicroscopy

Lithium-ion deintercalation/intercalation during charge/discharge processes is one of the essential reactions that occur in the layered cathodes of lithium-ion batteries, and the performance of the cathode can be expressed as the sum of the reactions that occur in the local area of the individual cathode particles. In this study, the spatial distributions of the chemical states present in prototypical layered LiCoO₂ cathode particles were determined at different charging conditions using scanning transmission X-ray microscopy (STXM) with a spatial resolution of approximately 100 nm. The Co L₃- and O K-edge X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) spectra, extracted from the same area of the corresponding STXM images, at the initial state as well as after charging to 4.5 V demonstrate the spatial distribution of the chemical state changes depending on individual particles. In addition to the Co L₃-edge XAS spectra, the O K-edge XAS spectra of the initial and charged LiCoO₂ particles are different, indicating that both the Co and O sites participate in charge compensation during the charging process possibly through the hybridization between the Co 3d and O 2p orbitals. Furthermore, the element maps of both the Co and O sites, derived from the STXM stack images, reveal the spatial distribution of the chemical states inside individual particles after charging to 4.5 V. The element mapping analysis suggests that inhomogeneous reactions occur on the active particles and confirm the existence of non-active particles. The results of this study demonstrate that an STXM-based spatially resolved electronic structural analysis method is useful for understanding the charging and discharging of battery materials.

Structural, optical, and magnetic properties of Ag+, Mn+ and Ar+ ions implanted ZnO thin films: effect of implantation dose and stopping energy

Herein, we systematically studied the effect of various excitation processes on the structural, optical, and magnetic properties of ZnO films implanted with 80 keV Ar⁺, 110 keV Mn⁺, and 190 keV Ag⁺ ions. Four different doses of 1 × 10¹³, 1 × 10¹⁴, 1 × 10¹⁵, and 2 × 10¹⁶ ions per cm² were used for implantation. It was observed that the structural, optical, and magnetic properties of the implanted samples were dominantly affected at the highest dose of 2 × 10¹⁶ ions per cm². For lower doses, insignificant changes in these properties were observed. A comparison of various processes involved in the implantation process shows that both the electronic excitation and nuclear excitation processes are responsible for the changes in the structural, optical, and magnetic properties of the implanted ZnO films.

Dominant changes in structural, optical, and magnetic properties were observed at the highest dose of implanted ions with larger ionic radii which is due to the large number of produced defects in the host.

Morphology-Dependent Room-Temperature Ferromagnetism in Undoped ZnO Nanostructures

Since Dietl et al. predicted that Co-doped ZnO may show room-temperature ferromagnetism (RTFM) in 2000, researchers have focused on the investigation of ferromagnetic ZnO doped with various transition metals. However, after decades of exploration, it has been found that undoped ZnO nanostructures can also show RTFM, which in general is dependent on ZnO morphologies. Here, we will give an overall review on undoped ZnO nanomaterials with RTFM. The advanced strategies to achieve multidimensional (quasi-0D, 1D, 2D, and 3D) ferromagnetic ZnO nanostructures and the mechanisms behind RTFM are systematically presented. We have successfully prepared ferromagnetic nanostructures, including thin films, horizontal arrays and vertical arrays. The existing challenges, including open questions about quantum-bound ZnO nanostructures, are then discussed.

Role of Interfacial Defects in Photoelectrochemical Properties of BiVO4 Coated on ZnO Nanodendrites: X-ray Spectroscopic and Microscopic Investigation

Synchrotron-based X-ray spectroscopic and microscopic techniques are used to identify the origin of enhancement of the photoelectrochemical (PEC) properties of BiVO₄ (BVO) that is coated on ZnO nanodendrites (hereafter referred to as BVO/ZnO). The atomic and electronic structures of core-shell BVO/ZnO nanodendrites have been well-characterized, and the heterojunction has been determined to favor the migration of charge carriers under the PEC condition. The variation of charge density between ZnO and BVO in core-shell BVO/ZnO nanodendrites with many unpaired O 2p-derived states at the interface forms interfacial oxygen defects and yields a band gap of approximately 2.6 eV in BVO/ZnO nanocomposites. Atomic structural distortions at the interface of BVO/ZnO nanodendrites, which support the fact that there are many interfacial oxygen defects, affect the O 2p-V 3d hybridization and reduce the crystal field energy 10Dq ∼2.1 eV. Such an interfacial atomic/electronic structure and band gap modulation increase the efficiency of absorption of solar light and electron-hole separation. This study provides evidence that the interfacial oxygen defects act as a trapping center and are critical for the charge transfer, retarding electron-hole recombination, and high absorption of visible light, which can result in favorable PEC properties of a nanostructured core-shell BVO/ZnO heterojunction. Insights into the local atomic and electronic structures of the BVO/ZnO heterojunction support the fabrication of semiconductor heterojunctions with optimal compositions and an optimal interface, which are sought to maximize solar light utilization and the transportation of charge carriers for PEC water splitting and related applications.

Unexpected Ferromagnetism—A Review

The study of magnetism in materials without partially filled d or f bands has gained much attention in the past years. Even though it has challenged the understanding of traditional magnetism, there is a wide range of studies debating the nature of magnetism in such materials. Theories on whether the exhibited ferromagnetic behavior is due to sample impurities or intrinsic structural defects have been published throughout the years. Materials such as hexaborides, non-magnetic oxides, and carbon nanostructures have been of great interest due to their potential applications. For a better understanding, herein, we present a literature review combining past and up-to-date studies on these materials.

Defect induced ferromagnetic ordering in epitaxial Zn0.95Mn0.05O films on sapphire (0 0 0 1)

We report the influence of Mn dopant on magnetic properties of Zn_0.95Mn_0.05O (ZMO)/Al₂O₃(0 0 0 1) hetero-epitaxial systems grown by using pulsed-laser deposition. The room temperature (RT) intrinsic ferromagnetic (FM) ordering verified by superconducting quantum interference device magnetometer and x-ray magnetic circular dichroism spectrum of Mn L _2,3 edges is ascribed to the substitutional Mn atoms in the Zn site of ZnO. Mn in ZMO has a tetrahedral local symmetry instead of the octahedral symmetry of MnO, after verifying the absence of the Mn-related impurities or clusters in ZMO epitaxial film by Mn K-edge and Zn K-edge x-ray absorption spectroscopy spectrum, as well as the analysis of long-range structural ordering on Renninger scan of forbidden (0 0 0 5) reflection in x-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and Raman spectrum. Comparison of x-ray absorption spectra of ZMO with those of ZnO epilayers at O K-, Zn K-, and L ₃-edges indicates that the substitution of the Zn site with Mn enhances the charge-transfer (CT) transition and the presence of Zn vacancies (V_Zn) also dominate the photoluminescence (PL) spectrum, implying that the formation of numerous V_Zn defects plays an important role in activating FM interactions. The strong CT effect and the existence of high-density V_Zn suggest that the intrinsic RT FM ordering of insulating ZMO is a result of the formation of the bound magnetic polarons (BMPs) that interact with each other via intermediate magnetic impurities.

Origin of magnetic properties in carbon implanted ZnO nanowires

Various synchrotron radiation-based spectroscopic and microscopic techniques are used to elucidate the room-temperature ferromagnetism of carbon-doped ZnO-nanowires (ZnO-C:NW) via a mild C⁺ ion implantation method. The photoluminescence and magnetic hysteresis loops reveal that the implantation of C reduces the number of intrinsic surface defects and increases the saturated magnetization of ZnO-NW. The interstitial implanted C ions constitute the majority of defects in ZnO-C:NW as confirmed by the X-ray absorption spectroscopic studies. The X-ray magnetic circular dichroism spectra of O and C K-edge respectively indicate there is a reduction in the number of unpaired/dangling O 2p bonds in the surface region of ZnO-C:NW and the C 2p-derived states of the implanted C ions strongly affect the net spin polarization in the surface and bulk regions of ZnO-C:NW. Furthermore, these findings corroborate well with the first-principles calculations of C-implanted ZnO in surface and bulk regions, which highlight the stability of implanted C for the suppression and enhancement of the ferromagnetism of the ZnO-C:NW in the surface region and bulk phase, respectively.

New strategy for magnetic gas sensing

New strategy for room temperature magnetic gas sensing based on magnetoelectrically-coupled hybrids. The sensor is sensitive, fast and cost-effective. The sensing is allowed thanks to the magneto-electric coupling at the interface.

Visualizing chemical states and defects induced magnetism of graphene oxide by spatially-resolved-X-ray microscopy and spectroscopy

This investigation studies the various magnetic behaviors of graphene oxide (GO) and reduced graphene oxides (rGOs) and elucidates the relationship between the chemical states that involve defects therein and their magnetic behaviors in GO sheets. Magnetic hysteresis loop reveals that the GO is ferromagnetic whereas photo-thermal moderately reduced graphene oxide (M-rGO) and heavily reduced graphene oxide (H-rGO) gradually become paramagnetic behavior at room temperature. Scanning transmission X-ray microscopy and corresponding X-ray absorption near-edge structure spectroscopy were utilized to investigate thoroughly the variation of the C 2p(π*) states that are bound with oxygen-containing and hydroxyl groups, as well as the C 2p(σ*)-derived states in flat and wrinkle regions to clarify the relationship between the spatially-resolved chemical states and the magnetism of GO, M-rGO and H-rGO. The results of X-ray magnetic circular dichroism further support the finding that C 2p(σ*)-derived states are the main origin of the magnetism of GO. Based on experimental results and first-principles calculations, the variation in magnetic behavior from GO to M-rGO and to H-rGO is interpreted, and the origin of ferromagnetism is identified as the C 2p(σ*)-derived states that involve defects/vacancies rather than the C 2p(π*) states that are bound with oxygen-containing and hydroxyl groups on GO sheets.

N Doping to ZnO Nanorods for Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting under Visible Light: Engineered Impurity Distribution and Terraced Band Structure

Solution-based ZnO nanorod arrays (NRAs) were modified with controlled N doping by an advanced ion implantation method, and were subsequently utilized as photoanodes for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting under visible light irradiation. A gradient distribution of N dopants along the vertical direction of ZnO nanorods was realized. N doped ZnO NRAs displayed a markedly enhanced visible-light-driven PEC photocurrent density of ~160 μA/cm² at 1.1 V vs. saturated calomel electrode (SCE), which was about 2 orders of magnitude higher than pristine ZnO NRAs. The gradiently distributed N dopants not only extended the optical absorption edges to visible light region, but also introduced terraced band structure. As a consequence, N gradient-doped ZnO NRAs can not only utilize the visible light irradiation but also efficiently drive photo-induced electron and hole transfer via the terraced band structure. The superior potential of ion implantation technique for creating gradient dopants distribution in host semiconductors will provide novel insights into doped photoelectrode materials for solar water splitting.

Abnormal room temperature ferromagnetism in CuO–ZnO heterostructures: interface related or not?

We report the new functionality of room temperature ferromagnetism in CuO–ZnO heterostructures.