Characterization Of Rare Earth Element Nd Doped ZnO Nanofibers Prepared By Electrospinning

In this present work, we synthesized Nd doped ZnO nanofibers by electrospinning. We determined the anneal process based on the result of thermal gravity analysis (TGA). Then, the fibers were studied for morphology, structure, optical and magnetical properties via scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), photoluminescence (PL) and superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID), respectively.The diameter of the prepared Nd doped ZnO nanofibers is about 300 nm, and the length can reach hundreds micrometers. The result of XRD shows that Nd ion has entered the ZnO lattice without changing the crystal structure. However, the lattice shrinks with the Nd ion doping, the grain size of the nanofibers is about 25.533 nm. The analysis of TEM energy dispersive spectra shows, the Nd ion dopant concentration is about 4.72 at.%, consistent with the nominal composition of 4.4 at.% which is expected. The Raman spectra illustrates that Raman vibrational modes of the sample is consistent with ZnO. The PL spectra of the sample shows, its intrinsic UV emission was significantly inhibited and the defect emission is very strong. The magnetic property of the sample is measured by SQUID. The result shows that the magnetic behavior at room temperature can be classified to ferrimagnetism, which is different from reported ferromagnetism. We roughly think that its room-temperature diluted ferrimagnetism is mediated by oxygen vacancies.