An oleic acid-coated Fe3O4 nanocrystal self-assembled film was fabricated via drop casting of colloidal particles on a SiO2/Si substrate. The film exhibited bifurcation of the zero-field-cooled and field-cooled magnetizations around 250 K. The nonlinear current-voltage (I-V) characteristics between the source and drain electrodes in both zero and non-zero magnetic fields (H) were observed above and below the bifurcation temperature. A large negative magnetoresistance (MR ≈ -60%) was achieved at 200 K and H = 1 T. Even at 295 K and 0.2 T, the negative MR (∼ -50%) persisted. A Fowler-Nordheim plot and power-law scaling of the I-V characteristics revealed that the current flows through two-dimensional (2D) percolated electron tunneling paths. The enlargement of MR can be attributed to spin-dependent electron tunneling between magnetically coupled Fe3O4 nanocrystals self-assembled in 2D ordered arrays.

An oleic acid-coated Fe2.7Co0.3O4 nanocrystal (NC) self-assembled film was fabricated via drop casting of colloidal particles onto a three-terminal electrode/MgO substrate. The film exhibited a large coercivity (1620 Oe) and bifurcation of the zero-field-cooled and field-cooled magnetizations at 300 K. At 10 K, the film exhibited both a Coulomb blockade due to single electron charging as well as a magnetoresistance of ∼-80% due to spin-dependent electron tunneling. At 300 K, the film also showed a magnetoresistance of ∼-80% due to hopping of spin-polarized electrons. Enhanced magnetic coupling between adjacent NCs and the large coercivity resulted in a large spin-polarized current flow even at 300 K.

Oleic acid coated Fe3-xCoxO4 (x = 0, 0.1 and 0.3) nanocrystal self-assembled films were fabricated via drop-casting of colloidal particles on a SiO2/Si substrate. Nanocrystals of the Fe3-xCoxO4 exhibited bifurcation of the zero-field-cooled and field-cooled magnetizations at 300 K. The Fe3-xCoxO4 nanocrystal drop-cast films demonstrated nonlinear current-voltage characteristics between the source and drain electrodes in magnetic fields of zero and 0.2 T, and magnetoresistance reached into −46% for the x = 0 film and −50% for both the x = 0.1 and 0.3 films at 300 K. Oleic acid coated Fe3-xCoxO4 (x = 0.1 and 0.3) nanocrystal would boost developments of a high performance current switching device using negative magnetoresistance.