Currently, wide-gap ZnO nanoparticles bear important potential application in
electro-optical devices, transparent ultraviolet protection films, and
spintronic devices. We have studied the magnetic properties of nanocrystals
of ZnO(Fe, Co, Mn) prepared by two methods of synthesis. We have used the
microwave assisted hydrothermal synthesis and traditional wet chemistry
method followed by calcination. The detailed structural characterization was
performed by means of X-ray diffraction and micro-Raman spectroscopy
measurements. The morphology of the samples was studied by means of SEM and
TEM microscopy. The results of systematic measurements of AC magnetic
susceptibility as a function of temperature and frequency as well as SQUID
magnetization are presented. The SQUID magnetization measurements revealed a
clear bifurcation of the FC and ZFC plots. Such behavior suggested
superparamagnetic behavior above the blocking temperature. The dynamic
magnetic measurements were performed at small AC magnetic field with
amplitude not exceeding 5 Oe and different frequency values (from 7 Hz to
9970 Hz). For ZnO(Fe) and ZnO(Mn), the AC susceptibility maxima has been
found for in-phase susceptibility Re(?) and for out of phase susceptibility
Im(?). We analyzed the observed frequency dependence of the peak temperature
in the AC susceptibility curve using the empirical parameter ? that is a
quantitative measure of the frequency shift and is given by the relative
shift of the peak temperature per decade shift in frequency, as well as
Vogel- Fulcher law. We observed two different types of magnetic behavior,
spin-glasslike behavior or superparamagnetic behavior, depending on the
synthesis process. For ZnO(Co) nanocrystalline samples high temperature
Curie-Weiss behavior in AC magnetic susceptibility was observed. We observed
that the determined negative values of the Curie- Weiss temperature ? depend
strongly on the nominal content of cobalt oxide. It was shown that for
calcination method the values of ? increase with the increase of magnetic ion
content indicating enhancement of predominance of antiferromagnetic
interactions. For hydrothermal method the opposite effect was observed
indicating the breakdown of predominance of aniferromagnetic coupling with
the increase of nominal magnetic ion content. This paper gives an in-depth
discussion of the structural and magnetic properties of ZnO nanocrystals in
addition to the technological issues such as different methods of wet
chemical synthesis.