Fabrication of Au/Ni/NiO heterostructure nanowires by electrochemical deposition and their temperature dependent magnetic properties

Abstract

Magnetic heterostructure nanowires with three different compositions (i.e. Au–NiO–Au, Ni–NiO–Ni, and Au–Ni–NiO) were successfully fabricated via simple chronoamperometric technique of the electrochemical deposition. Morphologies and compositions of the prepared samples were analyzed by the field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and x-ray diffraction (XRD), respectively. Magnetic properties of the fabricated nanowires were measured with the help of superconducting quantum interface device (SQUID) in a temperature range (2 ​K–300 ​K). The temperature dependent magnetic properties indicate that the heterostructure nanowires are composed of the superposition of ferromagnetic, anti-ferromagnetic components and exhibiting superparamagnetism and spin-glass like behaviors in different temperature range. Low temperature magnetization reveals high anisotropy of the prepared samples and showing high magnetization at the Ni/NiO interface of the nanowires. These nanostructures might have potential applications in the memory devices.