Ultra fast pulse-plating of NixCu1-x alloy nanowires

Abstract

Since nanotechnology is one of the interesting new topics for scientists, fabrication of nanomaterials may be extremely important. This article shows that electrodeposition is one of the best techniques to fabricate metallic nanomaterials. Here we show that a NixCu1-x alloy nanowire of arbitrary composition may be grown within a nuclear track-etched polycarbonate membrane by electrodepositing well-defined submonolayer quantities of Ni and Cu in alternation. The microstructure of the alloy wires was investigated using TEM in both imaging and diffraction modes. Magnetic measurements were carried out at 5 K and 300 K using a SQUID magnetometer to characterize the compositional homogeneity of the electrodeposited nanowires. © 2006 IOP Publishing Ltd.