Optical and magnetic properties of Cr-doped zinc phosphide nanoparticles prepared by the solid-state reaction method

This study uses the solid-state reaction approach to synthesize Zn (3-x) Cr x P 2 nanoparticles with a pure matrix (x = 0.03, 0.05, and 0.07). This study examines the effects of Cr doping on Zn 3 P 2 nanoparticles' optical, photoluminescence, magnetic, structural, morphological, and chemical identification characteristics. The synthesized samples exhibited a tetragonal structure from x = 0.03 to x = 0.07, and the structural characteristics upon doping indicate that no further phases were present. Micro strain (1.351–1.116) and dislocation density (1.512–1.120) decrease with increasing Cr content. When the concentration of Cr increases, the lattice parameters change from a=b= 8.1129 Å, c= 11.1029 Å to a=b= 8.1687 Å, c= 11.1268 Å. The nanoparticles' elemental makeup and surface structure are investigated using SEM with EDS. The agglomerated, spherical nanoparticles closely resemble the anticipated stoichiometric atomic ratio. The computation revealed that the optical band gap of the undoped and doped nanoparticles increased from 1.414 to 1.431 eV when the dopant concentration was increased. The emission peaks show that all emission peaks are located at the same wavelength due to the dopant level at excitation 258 nm. Ferromagnetism was present in both the undoped and Cr-doped Zn 3 P 2 samples at ambient temperature, and when the Cr concentration (x = 0.07) rose, the magnetization (Ms) rose from 0.0774 emu/g to 0.1517 emu/g. The role of the Zn 2 + and Cr 3+ spin electrons in the ferromagnetism of the Cr-doped Zn 3 P 2 is investigated.