Magnetic anisotropy transformation of Co–Fe–B nanowire arrays synthesized under the magnetic field

•Co–Fe–B nanowires with good quality are obtained by the electroless plating method.•The magnetic anisotropy is tailored by the magnetic field applied during plating.•Short-range order is proposed to explain this unique anisotropy transformation.

The effects of magnetic field on the magnetic anisotropy of amorphous Co–Fe–B nanowire arrays during the electroless plating process have been investigated. The results show that the easy magnetization direction of the Co–Fe–B nanowire array rotated from in-plane to out-of-plane with the applied magnetic field increasing. A mechanism based on the variation of atomic short-range ordering induced by the applied magnetic field is proposed to interpret this unique anisotropy transformation.