Room-Temperature Coercivity of Ni/NiO Core/Shell Nanoparticles Fabricated by Pulsed Laser Deposition

Ni/NiO core/shell nanoparticles embedded in an amorphous Al2O3 matrix were fabricated by pulsed laser deposition. The core/shell nanoparticles consist of a single-crystal Ni core and polycrystalline NiO shell. High coercivity at room temperature was achieved in the sample with Ni/NiO nanoparticles, which can be attributed to the interfacial interaction between the ferromagnetic Ni core and the anti ferromagnetic NiO shell. These results indicate that the formed Ni/NiO core/shell structure is favorable for the large coercivity application.