Intrinsic magnetism in Fe doped SnO2 nanoparticles

Iron doped semiconducting nanoparticles Sn1−xFexO2 with x=0, 0.001, 0.002, 0.003, 0.004, 0.01 and 0.03 were prepared by a sol–gel method. The X-ray diffraction, Transmission Electron Microscopy measurements confirm the rutile structure with no impurity phase. The three characteristic lines of electron spin resonance (ESR) are observed in the doped samples for all compositions, which is a clear evidence for rhombic Fe3+ in rutile phase. The line width of ESR increases with increase in Fe concentration due to induced disorder. The spin-pumping effect is observed at temperatures below 250 K for the samples with x=0.01 and 0.03. However, based on the Curie–Weiss susceptibility, iron is in paramagnetic state and is subject to weak antiferromagnetic interaction. Blue shift in the optical band gap is observed with increase in the Fe content.