Magnetic and optical properties of transition metal (Fe, Co) and rare-earth (Tb, Dy) doped ZnS nanoparticles

Highlights: • Series of Fe, Co, Dy and Tb doped ZnS nanoparticles were synthesized by hydrothermal technique. • Effect of TM and RE doping on structural, morphological, optical and magnetic properties were investigated and compared. • The tuneable band gap from 3.69 to 3.86 eV has been observed in doped nanoparticles. • Both the TM and RE doped nanoparticles showed enhanced magnetization. • Very high magnetization of 0.322 emu/g has been observed for Fe doped nanoparticles. -- Abstract: In the present work, hydrothermally synthesized transition metal (TM = Fe, Co) and rare earth (RE = Tb, Dy) doped ZnS nanoparticles were investigated for its structural, morphological, optical and magnetic properties. Phase and microstructural analysis confirmed cubic phase of ZnS having spherical shaped nanoparticles. TM doped showed relatively smaller crystallite size (~3.61 nm) compared to RE (~5.23 nm). The optical band gap found tunable in the range of 3.69–3.86 eV with doping. All nanoparticles were ferromagnetic in nature and highest value of saturation magnetization was observed for Fe doped ZnS. The tunable optical and ferromagnetic properties in RE and TM doped ZnS suggests their potential use in optoelectronic and spintronic devices.