Oxygen vacancies mediated ferromagnetism in hydrogenated Zn0.9Co0.1O film

Zn0.9Co0.1O films were prepared by pulsed laser deposition and followed by annealing treatment in hydrogen atmosphere. Both samples show ferromagnetic behavior and saturated ferromagnetic magnetization was significantly increased by five times after the hydrogenation treatment. Co ions in both samples have been confirmed to be bivalent as substituents. Moreover, hydrogenation did not change the ZnO wurtzite structure and no segregation of Co, Co oxides or any other secondary phases were detected. Furthermore, the Co 2p3/2 peaks shift to lower energy level after hydrogenation, excluding the formation of Co-H-Co complexes. The structural characterizations clearly confirmed that the increment of oxygen vacancies was due to the hydrogenation treatment. These results indicate that the oxygen vacancies play a crucial role in mediating the ferromagnetism in Zn0.9Co0.1O film.