Zhang, Feng, Lian, Yadong, Gu, Min, Yu, Ji, Tang, Tong B., Sun, Jian, and Zhang, Weiyi
Nanocrystalline tin oxide was fabricated, with molar ratio O/Sn determined as 1.40, 1.55, 1.79, 1.92 and 1.96 from X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. They displayed weak ferromagnetism, the sample with O/Sn = 1.55 showing the maximum saturation magnetization reaching almost 8 × 10 − 3 emu / g at room temperature. 119 Sn nuclear magnetic resonance allowed the deduction, based on four resolved resonance peaks, that their Sn ions had four possible coordination numbers, namely 3, 4, 5 and 6. The relative fraction of 4-coordinated cations was the one found to bear positive linear correlation with saturation magnetization of the sample. It is surmised that magnetism in tin oxide results mainly from 4-coordination Sn ions, of valance about +3, as estimated from the binding energies of their 3d photoelectron emission levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]