Possible d0 ferromagnetism in MgO

We study the impact of vacancies on the magnetism of MgO and TiO2 nanoparticles, and develop fist-principle calculations to ascertain the origin of the induced polarization. Theoretically, we expect ferromagnetism only for the case of MgO with cation defects. Experimentally, we observed a small magnetic signal probably due to imperfections in the lattice order, perhaps at the nanoparticles surface. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.