Recent Progress on Electrodeposition of Magnetic Iron-Based Alloy Films and Nanowires

Magnetic iron alloys are of great interest for various applications such as magnetic storage, recording, sensing and actuating. The ongoing demand for further miniaturization, limited available resources and the wide variety of applications advance the search for specific preparation routes that allow tuning the material for each particular application. The most appropriate method is electrodeposition as it allows for the fabrication of complicated nanoscaled geometries, in particular high aspect ratio nanowires.

While binary alloys of the iron group elements are widely investigated, the deposition of more fancy alloys such as Fe-Pt, Fe-Pd or Fe-Ga represents a major challenge. Reasons for that are on the one hand large differences in the alloy constituent nobility that cause unstable electrolytes and on the other hand their strong tendency to hydrolyze and to form and incorporate undesired oxidic species into the deposit.

This paper summarizes our recent progress on the Fe-based alloys Fe₇₀Pd₃₀ and Fe₈₀Ga₂₀. Electrolyte requirements and deposition mechanisms are discussed. The selection of appropriate deposition techniques for the transition from thin film to nanowire fabrication is reported particularly taking into account changing transport conditions and thus, changed deposition kinetics in the restricted geometry of the nanoporous templates. The obtained structures, microstructures and magnetic properties are correlated with deposition parameters.

References:

[1] D. Iselt, K. Tschulik, S. Oswald, D. Pohl, L. Schultz, H. Schlörb, JES 159(7) H633 (2012)