Fabrication and magnetic properties of electrodeposited Ni/Cu nanowires using the double bath method

Ordered Ni/Cu multilayered nanowires (NW's) were fabricated using the two bath method in which the AAO template was switched back and forth between the two baths each containing solutions of dissolved Ni and Cu sulfates repeatedly. Different combinations of periods in which templates spent in each bath were used. The SEM and TEM images of the NW's showed that the NW's were smooth and uniform. The VSM results showed that in the presence of a field applied parallel to the NW, the coercivity and squareness increased when the deposition times of the Ni and Cu increased. To account for the behavior when both the thicknesses of the Ni and Cu layers were increasing, the effects of the increase in the Cu layer partially offset the effects of the increase in the Ni layer. The highest coercivity and squareness achieved was 822 Oe and 0.949, respectively, when the deposition times were 8 min for the Ni deposition and 2.5 min for the Cu deposition.