Single-step generation of 1D FeCo nanostructures

Magnetic one-dimensional structures are attractive nanomaterials due to the variety of potential applications they can provide. The fabrication of bimetallic 1D structures further expands the capabilities of such structures by tailoring the magnetic properties. Here, a single-step template-free method is presented for the fabrication of 1D FeCo alloy nanochains. In this approach, charged single-crystalline FeCo nanoparticles are first generated by the co-ablation of pure Fe and Co electrodes under a carrier gas at ambient pressures and attracted to a substrate using an electric field. When reaching the surface, the particles are self-assembled into parallel nanochains along the direction of an applied magnetic field. The approach allows for monitoring the self-assembly particle by particle as they are arranged into linear 1D chains with an average length controlled by the deposited particle concentration. Magnetometry measurements revealed that arranging nanoparticles into nanochains results in a 100% increase in the remanent magnetization, indicating significant shape anisotropy. Furthermore, by combining x-ray microscopy and micromagnetic simulations, we have studied the local magnetization configuration along the nanochains. Our findings show that variations in magnetocrystalline anisotropy along the structure play a crucial role in the formation of magnetic domains.