Tunable magnetoresistance and thermopower in interconnected NiCr and CoCr nanowire networks

Magnetoresistance and thermopower of crossed NiCr and CoCr nanowire networks have been measured as a function of temperature and chromium content in dilute alloys. At low temperatures, it is found that the impurity effect leads to negative anisotropic magnetoresistance, an observation that even persists until room temperature in diluted CoCr alloy nanowires. The addition of a small amount of Cr in nickel nanowires also abruptly reverses the sign of the thermopower from −20 μV/K for pure Ni up to +18 μV/K for the dilute alloys, implying the switching from n- to p-type conduction. These results are consistent with pronounced changes in the density of states for the majority spin electrons. The high room-temperature power factors of these magnetic nanowire networks (in the range of 1–10 mW/K2 m) provide interesting perspectives for designing n- and p-type legs for flexible spin thermoelectric devices.