Magnetic quantification of single-crystalline Fe and Co nanowires via off-axis electron holography

Investigating the local micromagnetic structure of ferromagnetic nanowires (NWs) at the nanoscale is essential to study the structure–property relationships and can facilitate the design of nanostructures for technology applications. Herein, we synthesized high-quality iron and cobalt NWs and invest...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of chemical physics 2020-03, Vol.152 (11), p.114202
Main Authors: Chai, Ke, Li, Zi-An, Huang, Wenting, Richter, Gunther, Liu, Ruibin, Zou, Bingsuo, Caron, Jan, Kovács, András, Dunin-Borkowski, Rafal E., Li, Jianqi
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anisotropy
Aspect ratio
Cobalt
Crystal growth
Crystal structure
Crystallinity
Ferromagnetism
Holography
Iron
Magnetic induction
Magnetic moments
Magnetic properties
Micrometers
Nanowires
Oxidation
Single crystals
Surface layers
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Summary:Investigating the local micromagnetic structure of ferromagnetic nanowires (NWs) at the nanoscale is essential to study the structure–property relationships and can facilitate the design of nanostructures for technology applications. Herein, we synthesized high-quality iron and cobalt NWs and investigated the magnetic properties of these NWs using off-axis electron holography. The Fe NWs are about 100 nm in width and a few micrometers in length with a preferential growth direction of [100], while the Co NWs have a higher aspect-ratio with preferential crystal growth along the [110] direction. It is noted that compact passivation surface layers of oxides protect these NWs from further oxidation, even after nearly two years of exposure to ambient conditions; furthermore, these NWs display homogeneous ferromagnetism along their axial direction revealing the domination of shape anisotropy on magnetic behavior. Importantly, the average value of magnetic induction strengths of Fe NWs (2.07 {±} 0.10 T) and Co NWs (1.83 {±} 0.15 T) is measured to be very close to the respective theoretical value, and it shows that the surface oxide layers do not affect the magnetic moments in NWs. Our results provide a useful synthesis approach for the fabrication of single-crystalline, defect-free metal NWs and give insight into the micromagnetic properties in ferromagnetic NWs based on the transmission electron microscopy measurements.
ISSN:0021-9606
1089-7690
DOI:10.1063/1.5145337