Room Temperature Ferromagnetism in Single-Crystalline Fe5Si3 Nanowires

We have investigated electrical and magnetic properties of single-crystalline Fe5Si3 nanowires. The nanowire ensemble shows ferromagnetic properties with a high T c of 380 K, small coercivity, and no remanence in zero field at room temperature. Such magnetic properties of the single-crystalline nanowires should give a chance to realize not only novel nanospintronic devices but also biomedical applications. Electrical transport measurements on single Fe5Si3 nanowire device show metallic properties with low resistivity of 487 μ·Ω·cm. Fe5Si3 nanowires are the first example of single-crystalline metallic ferromagnet with a T c higher than room temperature.