Manipulation of morphology and magnetic properties in cobalt nanowires

Ferromagnetic metallic Cobalt nanowires are synthesized by the reduction of carboxylate salts of Co in 1, 2-butanediol using a solvothermal chemical process. In this process, the size and shape of the nanocrystals can be controlled via reaction parameters such as surfactant ratio, precursor concentration, and the temperature ramp. Synthesized Co nanocrystals exhibit the hexagonally close-packed phase favored the growth of anisotropic particles and the (002) crystalline direction is along the long axis of the nanowires. By varying the catalyst concentration in proper range, the effect of synthetic parameters on controlling Co nanoparticles with different length of 50 - 700 nm was systematically studied. Magnetic measurements and TEM images of the Cobalt nanowires indicate that the coercivity of the Co nanowires depends substantially on the morphology. The obtained highest coercivity of 8.4 kOe can be attributed to their small mean diameter and high crystallinity of nanowires for 200 - 300 nm.