Magnetic investigations of post-annealed metallic Fe nanowires via electrodeposition method

Smooth and long Fe nanowire (NW) arrays were successfully fabricated inside nano-channels of anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) template with DC electrodeposition method at room temperature. As-synthesized Fe NWs were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) methods and X-Ray diffraction (XRD) for morphology, elemental analysis and structural information, respectively. It has been observed that embedded Fe NWs have bcc crystal structure and polycrystalline nature. Shape anisotropy played the dominant role to orient the magnetic moments along the nanowires long axes. Low squarness (Mr/Ms) values for in-plane magnetization loops demonstrate the presence of dipole interaction field between the nanowires due to high pore density or small inter-pore distance (~125 nm). Annealing treatment improved the magnetic properties of Fe nanowires. The possible magnetic discussions in nano-geometry have been presented in detail.