Study of microstructure and magnetotransport properties of CrO2 prepared under HTHP

The microstructure of the CrO2 particles prepared by high temperature and high pressure (HTHP) method was studied by HRTEM. It is found that the CrO2 particles synthesized at 500 and 550 °C are covered by Cr2O3 surface layers of about 6 nm thick. However, the CrO2 particles synthesized at 400 and 450 °C do not have Cr2O3 surface layers. The saturation magnetization of the CrO2 particles synthesized at different temperatures is all very close to the theoretical value. The magnetoresistance (MR) of the CrO2 particles synthesized at 500 and 550 °C is much larger than that of the CrO2 particles synthesized at 400 and 450 °C, which should be due to the enhancement of tunneling magnetoresistance by insulating Cr2O3 surface layers. The tunneling MR of the CrO2 particles can be fitted well by expression of C1(M/Ms)2 + C2(M/Ms)4 + C3(M/Ms)6. The proportion of the higher-order terms of (M/Ms)2 in the expression is tightly related to the existence of the Cr2O3 surface layer.