Photoluminescence and Room‐Temperature Ferromagnetism in CuO:Ho Dilute Magnetic Semiconductor Materials

Abstract A chemical vapor‐liquid phase deposition and subsequent auxiliary heating method is developed to synthesize crystal CuO and CuO:Ho terrace structures. CuO terrace structures display weak ferromagnetic behavior owing to their unique crystal structure. The ferromagnetism of CuO:Ho terrace structures is significantly enhanced compared to the crystal CuO, and the values of the saturation magnetization present a parabolic trend with the increase of Ho ions doping concentrations. The magnetism of the crystal CuO:Ho terrace structures is mainly derived from the magnetic moment provided by the synergistic effect of Ho ions doping and oxygen vacancies. The saturation magnetizations and the coercivity of CuO:Ho (x = 0.88%) sample are 0.0595 emu g−1 and 90.5 Oe, respectively. The first‐principles calculations have been used to investigate the origin of ferromagnetism of the CuO:Ho terrace structures. The result of spin polarization density of states and spatial distribution of the spin density show that the origin of the ferromagnetism for CuO:Ho crystal is mainly attributed to the exchange interactions among the O 1s, Cu 2p, and Ho 4f orbits. The terrace structure of CuO:Ho samples offers a defined interface for controlling spin‐polarized states, making it suitable for exploring new spintronic phenomena.