Hierarchical nanostructure generated by decoratingSiOx nanowires with CoPt nanoparticles

Abstract

Silicon oxide nanowires were decorated with magnetically hard 3–5 nm-sized CoPtnanoparticles using a simple physical deposition system without any pretreatment of thenanowire surface. High curvature of the nanowire surface together with the weakmetal–substrate interaction helped to maintain discrete particle morphology with sphericalshapes during deposition. The weak interaction also allowed the preferential nucleation ofthe deposited film on the pre-existing particles so that the film deposition can be repeatedin order to increase the particle size without significantly altering the particlemorphology. We expect that this method can be easily extended to create other metalnanoparticle-decorated nanowires.