Synthesis and Characterization of Fe-Doped CdSe Nanoparticles as Dilute Magnetic Semiconductor

Cd_1?x Fe _x Se (0??x??0.1) nanoparticles were synthesized by hydrothermal method. The solubility limit of Fe in CdSe nanoparticles was found to be less than 6?% as obtained from X-ray diffraction (XRD) study. With the increase in doping concentration at and above it, secondary phase of FeSe₂ starts appearing. The presence of Cd, Se, and Fe has been confirmed by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). The increase in band gap value has been confirmed by UV-visible spectra and the variation in emission intensity of photoluminescence (PL) measurements further indicates the incorporation of Fe in CdSe nanoparticles. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) reveals the spherical nature of synthesized nanoparticles, and the particle size decreases with increasing Fe doping concentration. Fourier transform Infrared spectra (FTIR) confirm the capping of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) surfactant on pure and Fe-doped CdSe nanoparticles. The synthesized nanoparticles show room-temperature ferromagnetic behavior, and the saturation magnetization value was found to increase with Fe doping concentration.