Structure–magnetic property relationship in transition metal (M=V,Cr,Mn,Fe,Co,Ni) doped SnO2 nanoparticles

This work reports the results of an extensive search for ferromagnetism in SnO2 doped with a wide range of transition metal cations (M=V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, and Ni). By varying the dopant concentration in the 0–12% range, signatures of ferromagnetic behavior in varying degrees were observed with most dopants. The room temperature magnetic moments per dopant ion were low in all the systems and Co (0.13μB∕ion), Fe (0.014μB∕ion), and Cr (0.06μB∕ion) showed relatively the strongest ferromagnetic behavior. In these systems, the observed ferromagnetism initially increased reaching a maximum in the 1–12% range and then gradually weakened and eventually disappeared at higher concentration. The limiting dopant concentration xL at which ferromagnetic behavior reaches a maximum varies with dopant type and has a strong relation to structural changes revealed from detailed x-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. The XRD data indicated that the lattice volume for every Sn1−xMxO2 system decreased with increasing x in the 0⩽xL ra...