Kang Yue, Leng Qiang, Guo Donglin, Yang Dezhi, Pu Yanping, Hu Chenguo
1Department of Applied Physics, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400044 People's Republic of China.
2School of Public Affairs, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400044 People's Republic of China.
Nanomicro Lett. 2016;8(1):13-19. doi: 10.1007/s40820-015-0056-2. Epub 2015 Aug 19.
Ceria (CeO) nanocubes were synthesized by a hydrothermal method and weak ferromagnetism was observed in room temperature. After ultraviolet irradiation, the saturation magnetization was significantly enhanced from ~3.18 × 10 to ~1.89 × 10 emu g. This is due to the increase of oxygen vacancies in CeO structure which was confirmed by X-ray photoelectron spectra. The first-principle calculation with Vienna ab-initio simulation package was used to illustrate the enhanced ferromagnetism mechanism after calculating the density of states (DOSs) and partial density of states (PDOSs) of CeO without and with different oxygen vacancies. It was found that the increase of oxygen vacancies will enlarge the PDOSs of Ce 4f orbital and DOSs. Two electrons in one oxygen vacancy are respectively excited to 4f orbital of two Ce atoms neighboring the vacancy, making these electron spin directions on 4f orbitals of these two Ce atoms parallel. This superexchange interaction leads to the formation of ferromagnetism in CeO at room temperature. Our work indicates that ultraviolet irradiation is an effective method to enhance the magnetism of CeO nanocube, and the first-principle calculation can understand well the enhanced magnetism.
采用水热法合成了二氧化铈(CeO)纳米立方体,并在室温下观察到了弱铁磁性。紫外光照射后,饱和磁化强度从3.18×10显著增强至1.89×10 emu g。这是由于CeO结构中氧空位的增加,这一点通过X射线光电子能谱得到了证实。利用维也纳从头算模拟包进行第一性原理计算,通过计算有无不同氧空位的CeO的态密度(DOSs)和局域态密度(PDOSs)来说明增强的铁磁性机制。结果发现,氧空位的增加会扩大Ce 4f轨道的PDOSs和DOSs。一个氧空位中的两个电子分别被激发到与该空位相邻的两个Ce原子的4f轨道上,使得这两个Ce原子4f轨道上的这些电子自旋方向平行。这种超交换相互作用导致了CeO在室温下形成铁磁性。我们的工作表明,紫外光照射是增强CeO纳米立方体磁性的有效方法,并且第一性原理计算能够很好地理解这种增强的磁性。