Ferromagnetism in oriented graphite samples

Abstract

We have studied the magnetization of various well characterized samples of highly oriented pyrolitic graphite (HOPG), Kish graphite, and natural graphite to investigate the recently reported ferromagneticlike signal and its possible relation to ferromagnetic impurities. The magnetization results obtained for HOPG samples for applied fields parallel to the graphene layers—to minimize the diamagnetic background—show no correlation with the magnetic impurity concentration. Our overall results suggest an intrinsic origin for the ferromagnetism found in graphite. We discuss possible origins of the ferromagnetic signal.