Structural, optical and magnetic properties of Zn1−xFexO powders by sol–gel method

Zn1−xFexO (x = 0.02, 0.04, 0.06, 0.08, 0.10) powders have been synthesized by sol–gel approach from Zn nitrate and Fe nitrate reduced by citrate. Their structural and optical properties have been investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectra and photoluminescence (PL), respectively. XRD shows that Zn1−xFexO samples are single phase with the ZnO wurtzite structure as the Fe content is no more than 2%, while when Fe concentration reaches 4%, a secondary phase ZnFe2O4 is observed. Raman results show that the crystalline quality become worse with increasing of Fe concentration. PL spectra demonstrate that plenty of oxygen vacancy (VO) defects exist in the material. Superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) shows room ferromagnetic behavior of sample Zn0.98Fe0.02O at 300 K, while with the increasing of Fe content, ferromagnetism behavior disappears.