The fabrication and characteristic properties of amorphous Fe1 xPx alloy nanowire arrays

Amorphous Fe–P alloy nanowire arrays with diameter of about 40 nm were fabricated in anodic aluminium oxide films by the electrodeposition method. Transmission electron microscopy, selected area electron diffraction, x-ray fluorescence spectrometry, inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry, x-ray diffraction spectrometry, vibrating sample magnetometry and Mössbauer spectrometry are employed to study the morphology, chemical composition, structure and magnetic properties of the nanowire arrays, respectively. The results show that the Fe 1− x P x alloy nanowire arrays are amorphous at concentration x = 10.3 wt%. Due to the shape anisotropy effect, the coercivity of the nanowire arrays is large for an applied field along the nanowire axis. The magnetic moments of the Fe atoms are almost parallel to the wire axis at ambient temperature.