Optical and Magnetic Properties of Ni Doped ZnS Diluted Magnetic Semiconductors Synthesized by Hydrothermal Method

Diluted magnetic semiconductors Zn1-xNixS with different consistency ratio (x = 0, 0.01, 0.03, 0.05, and 0.07) were successfully synthesized by hydrothermal method using ethylenediamine as a modifier. The influence of Ni doping concentration on the microstructure, morphology, and optical and magnetic properties of undoped and Ni doped ZnS nanocrystals was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), X-ray energy dispersive spectrometry (XEDS), ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-vis), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), photoluminescence spectra (PL), and the vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), respectively. The experiment results show the substitution of Ni2+ on Zn2+ sites without changing the hexagonal wurtzite structure of ZnS and generate single-phase Zn1-xNixS with good crystallization. The lattice constant causes distortion and decreases with the increase of Ni2+ doped concentration. The appearance of the samples is one-dimensional well-dispersed nanorods. UV-vis spectra reveal the band gap of all Zn1-xNixS samples greater than that of bulk ZnS (3.67 eV), and blue shift phenomenon occurs. The photoluminescence spectra of undoped and doped samples possess the broad blue emission band in the range of 400–650 nm; the PL intensities of Zn1-xNixS nanorods increase with the increase of Ni content comparing to pure ZnS and reach maximum for x = 0.03. Magnetic measurements indicated that the undoped ZnS samples are superparamagnetic, whereas the doped samples exhibit ferromagnetism.