Enhanced electrical conductivity at Fe 3 O 4 grain boundaries

作者：Tingting Yao, Chunyang Gao, Ziyi Sun, Ang Tao, Y Jiang, Zhiqing Yang, Xiu-Liang Ma, Hengqiang Ye, Chunlin Chen · 发表于：Science Advances · 年份：2026 · DOI：10.1126/sciadv.aeb8164 · 被引用次数：2 · 研究领域：Magnetic Properties and Synthesis of Ferrites、X-ray Diffraction in Crystallography、Iron oxide chemistry and applications

Clarifying how grain boundaries (GBs) in materials affect the electrical property is critical to the design and application of electronic nanodevices. A common physical scenario is that GBs have lower electrical conductivity than bulk materials due to intense electrons scattering. In this work, we demonstrate that Σ5 and Σ13 GBs in Fe 3 O 4 bicrystal thin films exhibit substantially enhanced electrical conductivity compared to the grain interior based on nano- to macroscale electrical measurements. The atomic and electronic structures of the GBs have been systematically investigated by combining aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy and first-principles calculations. It has been revealed that the enhanced electrical conductivity at the Fe 3 O 4 GBs arises from a half-metallic–to–metallic transition, which is attributed to the spin-up conduction channel provided by tetrahedrally coordinated Fe sublattice. This study reveals the atomistic mechanism of GB-enhanced conductivity, thereby deepening the understanding of GB electrical property.