Systematic analysis and the effect of Mn doping on structural, optical and magnetic properties of MoO3 nanoparticles

In this work, we herein report the synthesis of pure and Mn doped MoO3 (NPs) by hydrothermal method. The crystal structure as well as phase purity of both the pure and Mn doped MoO3 NPs were investigated by using XRD studies. The average crystallite sizes for the NPs were found to exist in the range of 27-17 nm. The surface morphologies and elemental composition of the NPs were examined using SEM, HRTEM and EDX analysis. The vibrational spectral studies of the NPs revealed the characteristic vibrational assignments with reference to the existing structural data. The optical band gap energies of the samples obtained using Kubelka-Munk function were observed to be in the range of 2.77-2.68 eV. The XPS spectra of the NPs were studied to confirm the oxidation state of Mn ions. The magnetic studies reveal the ferromagnetic nature in Mn doped MoO3 NPs making them a promising candidate suitable for spintronic applications.