Monodisperse Fe-based and Co-based nanopar-ticles exhibit unique magnetic properties. They play important roles in magnetic storage and biomedical application. Their chemical synthesis and performance enhancement draw a lot of study interest. Investigations of magnetic metallic nano-particles are very active in many scientific fields. This paper reviews the present advances in chemical synthesis, perfor-mance enhancement, and potential applications of monodis-perse Fe-based and Co-based nanoparticles.
Ti O2 nanowire(NW) is one of the potential scattering layer materials in dye-sensitized solar cells(DSSCs) owing to its fast electron conductivity and excellent light scattering property resulting from its one-dimensional(1D) morphology. However, Ti O2 NWs used as scattering layers in previous work were either aggregated or shortened into shuttles that cannot use their unique 1D properties. In this paper, we present the preparation of a well-dispersed long NW paste(exceeding 1 ?m) by a mild method and used as a scattering layer in DSSC. The paste achieved a photoconversion efficiency of 5.73% and an efficiency enhancement of 12% compared with commercial scattering layer(P200 paste). Compared with the DSSC without a scattering layer, an efficiency enhancement of 54.9% was achieved. Also, the largest efficiency of 6.89% was obtained after optimization of photoanode thickness. The photoanodes were investigated through dye desorbed experiments and transmission spectra, which suggested that P25 nanoparticles with the as-prepared NW scattering layer loaded more dye than those with P200 paste. These results indicate that well-dispersed long NW paste has a potential application in scattering layers.
Pure ZnO and Zn0.96Na0.04O films were grown on quartz substrates by sol-gel technology.The XRD analysis revealed that all thin films had hexagonal wurtzite structure and obvious c-axis preferred orientation.Ferromagnetism was precisely measured by an alternating gradient magnetometer (AGM).To explore the nature original ferromagnetism,the effect of annealing atmosphere on magnetic properties of the films was studied.Compared with pure ZnO,magnetic hysteresis loops showed that doping Na atoms enhanced saturation magnetism.The mag-netism of the films annealed in the air atmosphere was significantly better than that in the O2 atmosphere.The photoluminescence (PL) spec-trum analysis suggested that the ferromagnetism was due to the defects in the films.
Wu, Kai Xu, Xiaoguang Yang, Hailing Zhang, Jianli Miao, Jun Jiang, Yong
Spin pumping at the Co2FeAl0.5Si0.5/Pt and Pt/Co2FeAl0.5Si0.5 interfaces has been studied by ferromagnetic resonance technology(FMR). The spin mixing conductance of the Co2FeAl0.5Si0.5/Pt and Pt/Co2FeAl0.5Si0.5 interfaces was determined to be 3.7×1019m 2and 2.1×1019m 2 by comparing the Gilbert damping in a Co2FeAl0.5Si0.5single film, Co2FeAl0.5Si0.5/Pt bilayer film and a Pt/Co2FeAl0.5Si0.5/Pt trilayer film. Spin pumping is more efficient in the Co2FeAl0.5Si0.5/Pt bilayer film than in permalloy/Pt bilayer film.
We have observed room temperature ferromagnetism in Mn-doped and (Fe, Mn)-codoped ZnO thin films grown under different oxygen partial pressures by pulsed laser deposition. The X-ray diffraction and optical transmission spectra studies demonstrate the natural incorporation of Fe and Mn cations into wurtzite ZnO lattices. The effects of transition metal doping and defects on the magnetic properties was investigated. It is found that room temperature ferromagnetism is sensitive to oxygen vacancy and Zn vacancy. The absence of ferromagnetism in pure ZnO films grown under different oxygen partial pressures reveals that the transition metal ions should also play an important role in inducing the ferromagnetism.
Microstructures and magnetic properties of Ta/Pt/Co 2 FeAl（CFA）/MgO multilayers are studied to understand perpendicular magnetic anisotropy（PMA） of half-metallic full-Heusler alloy films.PMA is realized in a 2.5-nm CFA film with B2-ordered structure observed by a high resolution transmission electron microscope.It is demonstrated that a high quality interface between the ferromagnetic layer and oxide layer is not essential for PMA.The conversions between in-plane anisotropy and PMA are investigated to study the dependence of magnetic moment on temperature.At the intersection points,the decreasing slope of the saturation magnetization（M s） changes because of the conversions.The dependence of M s on the annealing temperature and MgO thickness is also studied.
Zn0.99Cu0.01O films were studied experimentally and theoretically. The films were prepared by pulsed-laser deposition on Pt（111）/Ti/SiO2/Si substrates under various oxygen pressures to investigate the growth-dependence of the ferromagnetic properties. The structural, magnetic, and optical properties were studied, and it was found that all the samples possess a typical wurtzite structure, and that the films exhibit room-temperature ferromagnetism. The sample deposited at 600 ℃ and an oxygen pressure of 10 Pa showed a large saturation magnetization of 0.83 μB/Cu. The enhanced ferromagnetism in the （Cu, Li）-codoped ZnO is attributable to the existence of Zn vacancies （Vzn）, as shown by first-principles calcu- lations. The photoluminescence analysis demonstrated the existence of Vzn in both Zn0.99Cu0.01 O and （Cu, Li）-codoped ZnO thin films, and this plays an important role in the increase of ferromagnetism, according to the results of first-principles calculations.
We have calculated the electronic structures of Co2FeAl1-xSix(101) surface using firstprinciples method based on the density functional theory. Because of the surface effect, the minority spin band gap at the Fermi level disappears at the surface of bulk Co2FeAl1-xSix. However, beneath the surface, the minority spin gap opens at the Fermi level, which indicates that the electronic structures of Co2FeAl1-xSix(101) become close to that of bulk phase. Accordingly, the Co2FeAl1-xSix(101) surface is a composite tri-layer structure that corresponds to the weakening of half-metallic property in Co2FeAl1-xSix films. Even though, the spin polarization of Co2FeAl1-xSix(101) surface is still larger than that of Co2FeAl or Co2FeSi materials, making Co2FeAl1-xSix a promising spintronics material.
The electronic structures of spinel MgAl 2 O 4 and MgOtunnel barrier materials were investigated using first-principles density functional theory calculations. Our results show that similar electronic structures are found for the MgAl 2 O 4 and MgO tunneling barriers. The calculated direct energy gaps at the Γ-point are about 5.10 eV for MgAl 2 O 4 and 4.81 eV for MgO, respectively. Because of the similar feature in band structures from Γ high-symmetry point to F point ( band), the coherent tunneling effect might be expected to appear in MgAl 2 O 4-based MTJs like in MgO-based MTJs. The small difference of the surface free energies of Fe (2.9 J m 2 ) and MgAl 2 O 4 (2.27 J m 2 ) on the {100} orientation, and the smaller lattice mismatch between MgAl 2 O 4 and ferromagnetic electrodes than that between MgO and ferromagnetic electrodes, the spinel MgAl 2 O 4 can substitute MgO to fabricate the coherent tunneling and chemically stable magnetic tunnel junction structures, which will be applied in the next generation read heads or spintronic devices.
First-principles calculations based on density functional theory are performed to study the origin of ferromagnetism in boron-doped ZnO. It is found that boron atoms tend to reside at Zn sites. The induced Zn vacancy is a key factor for ferromagnetism in Znl-xBxO （0 〈 x 〈 1） systems. The nearest oxygen atoms coordinated with the B Zn vacancy pair show a few hole states in the 2p orbitals and induce magnetic moments. However, the configuration of two boron atoms inducing one Zn vacancy is nonmagnetic, with a lower formation energy than that of the B-Zn vacancy pair. This explains the difference between the theoretical and experimental magnetic moments.
