MAGNETIC PROPERTIES OF La-DOPED AND Cu-DOPED ZnO NANOWIRES FABRICATED BY HYDROTHERMAL METHOD

La-doped and Cu-doped ZnO nanowires have been prepared to compare the substitution effect on the microstructural and magnetic properties. The XRD patterns of both compositions with single diffraction peak (002) show the same wurtzite hexagonal structure. The growth rate of the ZnO nanowires were enhanced by Cu doping, which were different from the suppression of growth rate by La doping. Room temperature ferromagnetism is observed for all ZnO, Cu-doped ZnO and La-doped ZnO nanowires. The saturation magnetizations are 0.102, 0.232 and 0.04 emu/g for ZnO, Cu-doped ZnO and La-doped ZnO nanowires, respectively. The results showed that the ferromagnetism is restrained by Cu doping, but enhanced by the La doping.