McKenna, Keith P. orcid.org/0000-0003-0975-3626, Hofer, Florian, Gilks, Daniel et al. (4 more authors) (2014) Atomic-scale structure and properties of highly stable antiphase boundary defects in Fe3O4. Nature Communications. 5740. ISSN 2041-1723
Abstract
The complex and intriguing properties of the ferrimagnetic half metal magnetite (Fe3O4) are of continuing fundamental interest as well as being important for practical applications in spintronics, magnetism, catalysis and medicine. There is considerable speculation concerning the role of the ubiquitous antiphase boundary (APB) defects in magnetite, however, direct information on their structure and properties has remained challenging to obtain. Here we combine predictive first principles modelling with high-resolution transmission electron microscopy to unambiguously determine the three-dimensional structure of APBs in magnetite. We demonstrate that APB defects on the {110} planes are unusually stable and induce antiferromagnetic coupling between adjacent domains providing an explanation for the magnetoresistance and reduced spin polarization often observed. We also demonstrate how the high stability of the {110} APB defects is connected to the existence of a metastable bulk phase of Fe3O4, which could be stabilized by strain in films or nanostructures.
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Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2014 Macmillan Publishers Limited. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of York |
Academic Units: | The University of York > Faculty of Sciences (York) > Physics (York) The University of York |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number EPSRC EP/K03278X/1 EPSRC EP/K003151/1 |
Depositing User: | Pure (York) |
Date Deposited: | 18 Mar 2015 15:04 |
Last Modified: | 10 Nov 2024 01:16 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms6740 |
Status: | Published |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1038/ncomms6740 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:84305 |
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Description: Atomic-scale structure and properties of highly stable antiphase boundary defects in Fe3O4