Synthesis of Fe-doped NiO nanofibers using electrospinning method and their ferromagnetic properties

To make p-type diluted magnetic semiconductor (DMS), Ni1-xFexO nanofibers with different Fe doping concentrations have been successfully synthesized by electrospinning method using polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and Ni(CH3COO)(2)center dot 4H(2)O as starting materials. The nanofibers were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, superconductivity quantum interference device (SQUID) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) test. The results show that Fe doping has no influence on the diameter and surface morphology of NiO nanofibers, and the nanofibers are polycrystalline with NaCl structure. All Fe-doped samples show obvious ferromagnetic properties and the saturation magnetization is enhanced with increase of the doping concentration of Fe, which indicates that the doped Fe has been incorporated into the NiO host and results in room-temperature ferromagnetism in the Ni1-xFexO nanofibers. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.