Absence of room temperature ferromagnetism in bulk Mn-doped ZnO

Abstract

Structural and magnetic properties have been studied for polycrystalline ${\mathrm{Zn}}_{\text{1−x}}{\mathrm{Mn}}_x\mathrm{O}\text{\hspace{0.05em}(x=0.02,0.03,0.05).}$ Low-temperature (∼500 °C) synthesis leaves unreacted starting ZnO and manganese oxides. Contrary to a recent report, no bulk ferromagnetism was observed for single-phase materials synthesized in air at temperatures above 900 °C. Single-phase samples show paramagnetic Curie–Weiss behavior.