ZnO–Fe3O4 composite prepared by sol-gel method with H2 deoxidation

Abstract Fe doped ZnO powder samples (Fe/Zn=0.05 and 0.1) were prepared by sol-gel method with H 2 deoxidation at 450  ∘ C for several hours or just heated in air at the same temperature. It was showed by vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) that samples heat treated in H 2 could show strong ferromagnetism at room temperature while samples treated in air only show very weak magnetism. XRD using Co k α X-ray revealed that the samples heated in H 2 were not pure phase but like a granular system and the magnetism mainly results from Fe 3 O 4 in samples while samples heated in air showed pure ZnO phase. Our work indicated that H 2 deoxidation treatment may be an effective technique to fabricate such magnetic semiconductor-like materials with Curie temperature higher than room temperature.