Electrochemical fabrication and magnetic properties of Fe₇Co₃ alloy nanowire array

A new type of magnetic material, Fe₇Co₃ nanowires, was successfully synthesized for the first time via a simple electrodeposition method. Highly uniform, self-ordered porous anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) membranes were prepared by the way of electrochemical. Fe₇Co₃ alloy nanowire arrays were fabricated in the porous alumina template in an aqueous solution of FeCl₂ and CoCl₂ by direct current electrodepositing. The microstructures of nanowires and AAO template were characterized by XRD, SEM, and TEM. The results show that a single Fe₇Co₃ nanowire is 40 nm in width and 2.5 µm in length with a preferred crystal face (110) during growing. The Fe₇Co₃ nanowire arrays have uniaxial magnetic anisotropy with easy magnetization direction along the nanowire axis due to the large shape anisotropy. It also shows that Fe₇Co₃ nanowire is a well-soft magnetic phase compared with Fe nanowires. It illustrates that Fe₇Co₃ possess higher saturation magnetization.