Magnetic behavior of as-deposited and annealed CoFe and CoFeCu nanowire arrays by ac-pulse electrodeposition

CoFe and CoFeCu self-organized alloy nanowires were grown into anodic aluminum oxide template by potentiostatic mode of ac-pulse electrodeposition technique and subsequently annealed at 580 °C. The influence of bath composition, off-time between pulses and annealing treatment on the Cu content, microstructure and magnetic properties of CoFeCu nanowire arrays have been discussed. Increasing the off-time between pulses decreased the coercivity and saturation magnetization of the CoFeCu nanowires due to substitution of Co and Fe with Cu atoms which resulted in electroless process. Coercivity and squareness of the annealed samples increased due to improvement of samples crystallinity. Magnetic measurements showed high perpendicular magnetic anisotropy of the nanowires with easy axis parallel to nanowires axis. X-ray diffraction results indicated that annealed CoFeCu nanowires were polycrystalline with two distinct CoFe and Cu phases.