Structural, optical and magnetic properties of Co-doped ZnO nanorods with hidden secondary phases.

Co-doped ZnO nanorods (composition: Zn(0.955)Co(0.045)O) were grown by a simple surfactant-assisted hydrothermal technique. The morphological, structural, optical and magnetic properties of the as-prepared nanorods were investigated by means of scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, micro-Raman spectroscopy, micro-cathodoluminescence, and vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM). The results showed that the sample had rod-like morphology and that the preferential growth direction was along the c axis. While Co was successfully doped into the ZnO wurtzite lattice structure as revealed by several characterization techniques, hidden secondary phases of Zn(y)Co(3-y)O(4) (0≤y≤1) were also clearly detected by the micro-Raman spectroscopic technique. We propose that the predominant diffusion-limited Ostwald ripening crystal growth mechanism under the hydrothermal coarsening yielded such phase segregation. VSM results showed that the nanorods displayed relatively weak room-temperature ferromagnetism. We suggest that the origin of the ferromagnetism is probably due to the presence of the mixed cation valence of Co via a d-d double-exchange mechanism rather than the real doping effect. It is essential to control the crystal growth mechanism and defect states associated with the ferromagnetism in order to realize the intrinsic diluted magnetic semiconductors.