Highly Bi-doped electrodeposited Cu nanowires for spintronics applications

Bi-doped Cu alloys are promising materials in the field of Spintronics due to the possibility of having efficient charge to spin conversion via spin Hall effect. To explore this effect, in particular at the nanoscale, it is essential to have a growth method that allows the control of crystal quality, cluster formation and microstructure. In this paper, we demonstrate that electrochemical deposition is a suitable method for the synthesis of these nanomaterials. We report the growth, by template assisted electrodeposition, of high quality, homogeneous nanowires of a diluted alloy of Bi dispersed into a Cu matrix, in which Bi concentration can be easily varied by tuning electrolyte composition. Structural analysis shows that Bi does not cluster but incorporate into the Cu matrix. The short-range order is nevertheless affected by the deposition potential. Cu is basically metallic, and Cu–Cu nearest-neighbor distances are those of bulk Cu, so Bi enters into the Cu structure substitutionally. Using low overpotential, we demonstrate the possibility of growing single crystal nanowires.