Room Temperature Ferromagnetism Properties of In2S3 Nanoparticles Regulated by Doping with Gd ions

In2S3 with suitable bandgap and tunable magnetism is a promising material for spintronic applications. Herein, the pristine In2S3 and In2S3: Gd3+ nanoparticles with room temperature ferromagnetism are synthesized by a gas-liquid phase chemical deposition method. The bandgap value, photoluminescence (PL) intensity and magnetic properties of In2S3: Gd3+ nanoparticles can be tuned by regulating Gd3+ dopant concentration. In addition, the measured saturation magnetization in undoped In2S3 nanoparticles is 0.011 emu/g and the maximum saturation magnetization observed in In2S3: Gd3+ nanoparticles is 0.035 emu/g, and the corresponding magnetic mechanism is explicated based on bound-magnetic-polaron (BMP) theory. First-principles DFT calculation reveals that In vacancies and Gd3+ ions doping can induce intrinsic ferromagnetism. Finally the obtained results of experiment and theory suggest the potential of Gd-doped In2S3 for application in spintronic devices.