Preparation of Co nanowire arrays and the effect of diameter on magnetic properties

Highly ordered Co nanowires arrays with different diameters have been fabricated in the pores of a porous anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) template by the electro-deposition of magnetic material. The structure and magnetic properties were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), respectively. The results show that such nanowire arrays possess both fcc and hcp structures at the same time. The magnetic properties indicate that the nanowires have excellent perpendicular anisotropy. The relation between magnetic properties and Co nanowires diameters were investigated, and shown that the magnetic properties for the Co nanowires with diameter over 100 nm are not too much different from the bulk Co.