Fabrication and magnetic properties of pulse electrodeposited FeSn nanowire arrays

When it comes to fabricating efficient nanomaterials for magnetic recording media and spintronic devices, Febased nanowires (NWs) containing nonmagnetic elements can represent themselves as one of ideal candidates. Here, a pulse electrodeposition method in porous anodic alumina membranes is employed to fabricate Fe100-xSnx (2 <= x <= 68) NW arrays with a diameter of about 35 nm. During the NW fabrication, Sn electrolyte concentration (C-Sn) and off-time (T-off) between pulses change in the range from 0.0025 to 0.02 M and 0-75 ms, respectively. As a general trend, magnetic properties including coercivity and squareness values decrease with increasing the Sn content. Meanwhile, first-order reversal curve diagrams show single domain and pseudo-single domain states of the FeSn NWs, depending on the Sn content in the structure dominated by Fe or FeSn alloy crystal phase. Magnetostatic interactions and coercive field distributions are also observed to significantly change by varying C-Sn and T-off,T- providing magnetically tunable FeSn NW arrays induced by the nonmagnetic element addition.

Automated summary

Fe-based nanowires containing nonmagnetic elements, fabricated using a pulse electrodeposition method in porous anodic alumina membranes, exhibit magnetic tunability. The magnetic properties of Fe100-xSnx NW arrays, with a diameter of about 35 nm, such as coercivity and squareness values, decrease with increasing Sn content. The structure of the FeSn NWs, dominated by Fe or FeSn alloy crystal phase, can be either single domain or pseudo-single domain states depending on the Sn content.