Preparation and magnetic properties of Fe0.88−xCoxP0.12 amorphous nanowire arrays

Arrays of Fe0.88−xCoxP0.12 amorphous nanowires were fabricated by electrochemical deposition. Transmission electron microscope result shows that the nanowires are regular and uniform, about 2.8 μm in length and 40 nm in diameter. Selected area electron diffraction and X-ray diffraction results indicate that the nanowires are amorphous in structure. Vibrating sample magnetometer and Mössbauer spectrometer are employed to study the magnetic properties of nanowire arrays at room temperature. The results show that the arrays of nanowires exhibit uniaxial magnetic anisotropy that depends on the shape of each individual nanowire. When the applied magnetic field is parallel to the wire axis, the coercivity and squareness of the nanowire arrays increase with increasing Co concentration. The magnetic moments of the Fe atoms are approximately parallel to the wire axis and the hyperfine field decreases with increasing Co content.