The role of hydrogen in room-temperature ferromagnetism at graphite surfaces

Journal Article · Fri Aug 12 00:00:00 EDT 2011 · Submitted to New Journal Of Physics

OSTI ID:1022568

Ohldag, Hendrik

We present a x-ray dichroism study of graphite surfaces that addresses the origin and magnitude of ferromagnetism in metal-free carbon. We find that, in addition to carbon {pi} states, also hydrogen-mediated electronic states exhibit a net spin polarization with significant magnetic remanence at room temperature. The observed magnetism is restricted to the top {approx}10 nm of the irradiated sample where the actual magnetization reaches {approx_equal} 15 emu/g at room temperature. We prove that the ferromagnetism found in metal-free untreated graphite is intrinsic and has a similar origin as the one found in proton bombarded graphite.

• Research Organization: SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-76SF00515
• OSTI ID: 1022568
• Report Number(s): SLAC-PUB-14356; TRN: US201118%%264
• Journal Information: Submitted to New Journal Of Physics, Journal Name: Submitted to New Journal Of Physics
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

08 HYDROGEN
CARBON
DICHROISM
FERROMAGNETISM
GRAPHITE
HYDROGEN
MAGNETISM
MAGNETIZATION
ORIGIN
POLARIZATION
PROTONS
SPIN
MATSCI