Synthesis and Magnetic Anisotropy Analysis of Co/Au Multilayered Nanowires

Co/Au multilayered nanowires with a diameter of 80 nm were electrodeposited into anodic aluminum oxide templates in a single plating bath without any toxic cyanide. The nanowires with various layer thicknesses were characterized by transmission electron microscopy. X-ray diffraction spectra revealed that Au layers and Co-rich layers exhibited a face-centered cubic (111) texture and a hexagonal closed-packed structure, respectively. Hysteresis loops of the Co/Au nanowires demonstrated that the nanowire arrays had a strong magnetic anisotropy parallel to the nanowires and the squareness increased with increasing the thickness of the Co-rich layers. The mechanisms for the magnetic anisotropy of the Co/Au nanowires were analyzed.