Editors' Choice—A Methodology to Electrochemically Fabricate Fe-Ni-Co Nanotips

Abstract

© The Author(s) 2017. Published by ECS. All rights reserved. Fe-Ni-Co nanotips at the end of nanowires are fabricated at the interface of two Fe-Ni-Co regions via a combination of pulse electrodeposition, anodization and chemical etching. The conditions to electrodeposit and anodize the Fe-Ni-Co nanowires in polycarbonate templates were investigated with a rotating cylinder electrode (RCE) to inspect the polarization behavior of the thin film deposition. The wires were fabricated with three, consecutive electrochemical conditions, where first an Fe-Ni-Co wire segment is deposited, followed by an anodic potential to induce growth of an iron oxide thin film, and then followed by an applied, pulse cathodic current density to reduce the oxide and deposit another layer of Fe-Ni-Co. Upon etching, tips formed at the end of the last Fe-Ni-Co region, as evidenced by SEM. Potential transients during the last applied cathodic pulse current step, suggests that both the reduction of the oxide and metal occur, and that TEM/SAED confirm changes in the crystalline Fe-Ni-Co structure at the interfacial region between steps that contributes to the tip formation.