Abstract
We report an experimental investigation of the room-temperature ferromagnetism of an Fe-doped In2O3 system. (In1−xFex)2O3(x = 0.00, 0.02, 0.06,0.10,0.14 or 0.18) powders were prepared by a standard solid-state reaction method followed by sintering in air at 1200 °C for 48 h. The influence of Fe-doping concentration on the structural and magnetic properties of the In2O3 samples was studied. X-ray diffraction analysis reveals that Fe ions are incorporated into the In3+ sites of the In2O3 lattice without altering the cubic bixbyite structure. Magnetic characterization shows ferromagnetic behavior at room temperature for all the Fe-doped In2O3 samples. The observed ferromagnetism is attributed to the oxygen vacancies induced by substitution of Fe into In3+ sites and vacuum annealing. A model of ferromagnetic exchange interactions was proposed to explain the ferromagnetism in this system.
•(In1−xFex)2O3 powders were prepared by a standard solid-state reaction method followed by sintering.•Room temperature ferromagnetism order was observed.•The oxygen vacancy plays an important role in the observed ferromagnetism.•A model of ferromagnetic exchange interactions was proposed to explain the ferromagnetism.