Experimental validation of the predicted emergent magnetism in diamagnetic cadmium sulfide (Cds) doped with boron

Abstract

The large and persistent photoconductivity displayed by some semiconductors provides a way to control magnetism with light, through illumination-control of free carrier concentration and thereby magnetic interaction in dilute magnetic semiconductors. CdS is a wide band-gap semiconductor that displays large and persistent photoconductivity and is predicted to become magnetic when doped with certain dopants such as Boron[1]. In this work, we experimentally test the prediction of magnetic CdS:B, and lay groundwork for testing the hypothesis that magnetism can be controlled by photoconductivity. We make CdS:B nanoparticles by co-precipitation[2]. We use X-ray diffraction and plasma optical emission spectroscopy to quantify boron doping. We use magnetometry to confirm the presence of magnetic B.