A study on defect formation and magnetic properties of nitrogen-doped ZnO nanowires by the first principles

Abstract Theoretical calculation based on density functional theory (DFT) and generalized gradient approximation (GGA) has been carried out in studying defect formation energies, ionizing energies and ferromagnetism of nitrogen-doped ZnO nanowires. The result shows that NO is deep acceptor, which make it hard to ionize. Ferromagnetic (FM) and antiferromagnetic (AFM) coupling between N atoms are also investigated. The results show that FM coupling between N atoms is more stable than AFM coupling. The FM coupling mechanism is explained by the interaction of N energy level. In addition, zinc and oxygen vacancies affecting FM coupling is also discussed. It is found that zinc and oxygen vacancies are unfavorable for stabilizing FM coupling of nitrogen-doped ZnO nanowires.