Effect of Ni Doping on Structural, Morphological, Optical and Magnetic Properties of Zn1−xNix O Dilute Magnetic Semiconductors

Ni2+-doped ZnO diluted magnetic semiconducting materials (Zn1−xNixO with x=0.01,0.02,0.03,0.04,0.05) were synthesised by the co-precipitation method. All synthesised samples were sintered at 600 °C for 6 hours. The effects of Ni2+ ion-doping on the structural, morphological, optical and magnetic properties of ZnO were investigated using powder X-ray diffraction, field emission SEM, UV–DRS spectroscopy, photoluminescence and vibrating sample magnetometry. The XRD patterns of pure and Ni-doped ZnO samples revealed single phase hexagonal wurtzite structure. The SEM analysis revealed the morphology of prepared samples, and the chemical compositions of all samples were analysed using exhibit energy density X-ray analysis (EDAX) characterisation. The absorption and emission properties revealed the effect of Ni2+ doping in ZnO samples. All Ni2+ ion-doped samples showed ferromagnetism at room temperature. The observed results are here analysed and reported.