Magnetoresistance characteristics in individual Fe₃O₄ single crystal nanowire

We report on the magnetoresistance (MR) and electron transport measurements observed on a single crystal magnetite nanowire prepared using a hydrothermal synthesis method. High-resolution electron microscopy revealed the single crystal magnetite nanowires with 80–120 nm thickness and up to 8 μm in length. Magnetic measurements showed the typical Verwey transition around 120 K with a 100 Oe room temperature coercivity and 45 emu/g saturation magnetization, which are comparable to bulk magnetite. Electrical resistance measurements in 5–300 K temperature range were performed by scanning gate voltage and varying applied magnetic field. Electrical resistivity of the nanowire was found to be around 5 × 10⁻⁴ Ω m, slightly higher than the bulk and has activation energy of 0.07 eV. A negative MR of about 0.7% is observed for as-synthesized nanowires at 0.3 T applied field. MR scaled with increasing applied magnetic field representing the field-induced alignment of magnetic domain. These results are attributed to the spin-polarized electron transport across the antiphase boundaries, which implicate promising applications for nanowires in magnetoelectronics