First-Principles Study on Magnetic Properties of V-Doped ZnO Nanotubes

Electronic and magnetic properties of V-doped ZnO nanotubes in which one of Zn²⁺ ions is substituted by V²⁺ ions are studied by the first-principles calculations of plane wave ultra-soft pseudo-potential technology based on the spin-density function theory. The computational results reveal that spontaneous magnetization in V-doped (9,0) ZnO nanotubes can be induced without p-type or n-type doping treatment, and the ferromagnetism is isotropic and independent of the chirality and diameter of the nanotubes. It is found that V-doped ZnO nanotubes have large magnetic moments and are ferromagnetic half-metal materials. Moreover, the ferromagnetic coupling among V atoms is generated by O 2p electron spins and V 3d electron spins localized at the exchanging interactions between magnetic transitional metal (TM) impurities. The appearance of ferromagnetism in V-doped ZnO nanotubes gives some reference to fabrication of a transparent ferromagnet which may have a great impact on industrial applications in magneto-optical devices.