Defect induced room temperature ferromagnetism in high quality Co-doped ZnO bulk samples

The nature of the often reported room temperature ferromagnetism in transition metal doped oxides is still a matter of huge debate. Herein we report on room temperature ferromagnetism in high quality Co-doped ZnO (Zn1-xCoxO) bulk samples synthesized via standard solid-state reaction route. Reference paramagnetic Co-doped ZnO samples with low level of structural defects are subjected to heat treatments in a reductive atmosphere in order to introduce defects in the samples in a controlled way. A detailed structural analysis is carried out in order to characterize the induced defects and their concentration. The magnetometry revealed the coexistence of a paramagnetic and a ferromagnetic phase …