Effect of Co and Mn doping on the morphological, optical and magnetic properties of CuO nanostructures

Abstract Copper oxide (CuO) is an exciting semiconducting material with interesting structural and optical properties. Transition metal doped-CuO nanostructures have great potential to use in memory device applications. In the present work, we describe in detail, the synthesis of pure CuO, cobalt (Co) and manganese (Mn) doped CuO via low temperature co-precipitation method. Various techniques like; X-ray diffraction (XRD), Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM), Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Superconducting Quantum Interference Device (SQUID) magnetometer have been utilized to characterize the synthesized nanoparticles. XRD data exhibits a pure monoclinic phase of CuO for all synthesized samples. Surface morphology obtained from FE-SEM clearly shows the presence of cluster-like structure of grains. The magnetic investigations suggest that pure CuO nanoparticles exhibit the superparamagnetic state, which further transforms to antiferromagnetic state with Co doping. However, a peak of sharp intensity (maxima) at T = Tf in ZFC curve in Mn-doped sample gives the evidence of spin glass (SG) behavior.