Heat capacity studies on single crystal annealedFe3O4

Abstract

Single crystals of magnetite were grown and annealed under a controlled oxygen atmosphere to produce homogeneous, single phase samples. Heat capacity studies revealed a single, sharp first order heat capacity transition at the Verwey transition $T_V$≃121 K, no anomaly at 10 K, no evidence for short range order, and an entropy of transition of Δ$S_v$=R ln2 per mole of ${\mathrm{Fe}}_3$ ${\mathrm{O}}_4$. A model accounting for this numerical result is discussed.