Magnetic properties of carbon nanosheets

• Published in: Philosophical magazine (Abingdon, England) England), 2010-09, Vol.90 (25), p.3463-3473
• Main Authors: Rao†, B.P.C., Ramaswamy†, S., Gopalakrishnan, C., Vijayakumar, N. Satya, Ganesh, K.R., Thiruvadigal, D.J., Ponnavaikko, M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Carbon; carbon nanosheets; Chemical vapor deposition (including plasma-enhanced cvd, mocvd, etc.); chemical vapour deposition; Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties; Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Disorders; Exact sciences and technology; Ferromagnetism; Magnetic properties; Magnetic properties and materials; Magnetic properties of nanostructures; magnetisation; Materials science; Methods of deposition of films and coatings; film growth and epitaxy; Nanocomposites; Nanocrystalline materials; Nanomaterials; Nanoscale materials and structures: fabrication and characterization; Nanostructure; Physics; Synthesis; vibrating sample magnetometer
• ISSN: 1478-6435; 1478-6443
• DOI: 10.1080/14786435.2010.489032

Two-dimensional carbon nanosheets have been fabricated using inductively coupled radio frequency plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition. The structural properties of the nanosheets have been characterised using atomic force microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffractometer. The magnetisation of the samples was studied using vibrating sample magnetometer. The magnetisation of the nanosheets was found to be diamagnetic for fast synthesis processes (30 and 60 min). On the other hand, the nanosheets exhibited a weak ferromagnetic response for the slow (120 min) synthesis process. Energy dispersive spectrometry and atomic absorption spectroscopy confirmed that the magnetisation exhibited by the carbon nanosheets was an intrinsic property and that it was not due to contamination from the substrate. Raman spectroscopy studies revealed that the ferromagnetic carbon nanosheets have a higher ratio (1.20) of graphite peak (I G ) to disordered peak (I D ) than normally expected (0.75-0.90). Available data indicated that the magnetisation was due to the presence of structural disorders.