Magnetic irreversibility and Verwey transition in nano-crystalline bacterial magnetite

TL;DR

This study compares magnetic properties of biologically-produced and synthetic magnetite nanocrystals, revealing how particle arrangement influences the Verwey transition and magnetic relaxation behaviors.

Contribution

It demonstrates the impact of nanoparticle organization on the Verwey transition sharpness and magnetic relaxation, highlighting the collective dipolar effects in magnetosome chains.

Findings

Verwey transition observed in all nanocrystals

Chain organization sharpens the Verwey transition

Magnetosome chains behave as long magnetic dipoles

Abstract

The magnetic properties of biologically-produced magnetite nanocrystals biomineralized by four different magnetotactic bacteria were compared to those of synthetic magnetite nanocrystals and large, high quality single crystals. The magnetic feature at the Verwey temperature, $T_{V}$, was clearly seen in all nanocrystals, although its sharpness depended on the shape of individual nanoparticles and whether or not the particles were arranged in magnetosome chains. The transition was broader in the individual superparamagnetic nanoparticles for which $T_{B}<T_{V}$, where $T_{B}$ is the superparamagnetic blocking temperature. For the nanocrystals organized in chains, the effective blocking temperature $T_{B}>T_{V}$ and the Verwey transition is sharply defined. No correlation between the particle size and $T_{V}$ was found. Furthermore, measurements of $M(H,T,time)$ suggest that magnetosome chains behave as long magnetic dipoles where the local magnetic field is directed along the chain and this result confirms that time-logarithmic magnetic relaxation is due to the collective (dipolar) nature of the barrier for magnetic moment reorientation.