Fabrication and characterization of nano-structured ferromagnetic Ti_(1-x)Fe_xO2 thin films

摘要

Nanostructured intrinsic and doped titania materi- als have long been subject to both basic and applied research, in connection with environment and energy - related applications. Apart from beneficial effects, such as widening the wavelength range for surface photocat- alytic activation, doping TiO2 materials with 3d ferro- magnetic cations is a main route to develop an impor- tant class of diluted semiconductors, with potential ap- plications in spintronics. In all the previous investiga- tions the concentration of the ferromagnetic dopant was limited to a few percents. Here, we initiate an extended investigation of Ti_(1-X)Fe_xO2 within a wider iron compo- sition range (x = 0 - 0.55) and discuss the magnetic and optical properties of these materials in thin films in re- lation with their elemental composition, nano-structure and local atomic ordering.