SUPERCRITICAL FLUID PROCESSING OF FUNCTIONAL OXIDE CORE-SHELL NANOCABLE ARRAYS

ABSTRACT

The ability to couple two or more materials, exhibiting distinct properties, into a single geometry, such as core-shell nanocables, may lead to the realisation of novel multi –functional materials for applications such as spin valve systems. We discuss in this paper the use of supercritical fluid inclusion techniques for the growth of cobalt/magnetite and magnetite/cobalt core/shell nanocables within the pores of anodic aluminium oxide (AAO) membranes. These nanowires exhibit tunable magnetic properties which are dominated by the core material.

keywords:

• Supercritical Fluids
• Magnetic Nanocables
• Core-Shell Materials

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors would like to thank the Rank Prize Fund and Committee for the opportunity to present this work. The authors also acknowledge the financial support of the Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering and Technology (IRCSET), Science Foundation Ireland (SFI, Grant 03/IN3/1375) and the QMP04.3.4 of the NMS Quantum Metrology Program (UK). The authors also acknowledge the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF Award CH-2052) for the use of the Dutch-Belgium beamline (DUBBLE) and Intel (Ireland) for XPS analysis.