Surface ferromagnetic p-type ZnO nanowires through charge transfer doping

We report first-principles theoretical investigation of p-type charge transfer doping of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanowires by molecular adsorption. We find that spontaneous dissociative adsorption of fluorine molecules introduces half-emptying of otherwise fully filled oxygen-derived surface states. The resulting surface Fermi level is so close to the valence band maximum of the ZnO nanowire that the nanowire undergoes significant p-type charge transfer doping. Those half-filled surface states are fully spin-polarized and lead to surface ferromagnetism that is stable at room temperature. We also analyze the kinetic control regime of the surface transfer doping and find that it may result in nonequilibrium steady states. The present results suggest that postgrowth engineering of surface states has high potential in manipulating ZnO nanostructures useful for both electronics and spintronics.