Aspects of Pore Filling in Synthesis of FeNi Alloy Nanowires Using Track-Etched Membranes

摘要

Fe–Ni alloy nanowires (NWs) with the elemental composition similar to permalloy (20 wt % Fe and 80 wt % Ni) are prepared by template-assisted synthesis using track-etched polyethylene terephthalate membranes (pore diameter of 100 nm) as the template. To obtain a solid contact at the pore bottom, the template matrix is specially prepared for electrodeposition of the metals into its pores. The NW growth kinetics is studied, and the dependence of NW length on the deposition time is established. The morphology and geometry of synthesized NWs is studied by scanning electron microscopy. The NW growth rate is shown to change at different stages of matrix pore filling and vary nonlinearly. The current efficiency is calculated at the different stages of matrix filling, and changes in this parameter correlate with the variation of growth rate. Possible explanations of the nonlinear behavior of growth rate are provided. The dependence of average NW length on deposition time is described by an equation obtained by the method of linear interpolation.