Intentionally encapsulated metal alloys within vertically aligned multi-walled carbon nanotube array via chemical vapor deposition technique

Abstract

This paper presents a growth and characterization of vertically aligned PdxCoi-x alloy encapsulated inside Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotube (MWCNT) arrays on Pd/Co thin layers coated on Si substrate by a dc bias-enhanced plasma chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method. The Metal Alloy Encapsulated within MWCNTs (MAE-MWCNTs) were characterized by a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and a transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The SEM images show the teardrop-shape particles encapsulated within the tube top of MWCNTs. A vibrating sample magnetometer was used to study the magnetism of a large number of MAE-MWCNTs on Si substrate at room temperature. The hysteresis loop of the ME-MWCNTs shows clear ferromagnetic behavior and the easy axis of magnetization is parallel to the MEA-MWCNT tube axis, as can be elucidated from the large coercive fields and remanence values. Moreover, TEM off-axis electron holograms were used to study the magnetism of the individual MAE-MWCNT or the two pair of MAE-MWCNTs. Based on electron holography, we have successfully obtained the saturation magnetization of 0.7 T and 1.12 T for the individual MAE-MWCNT with diameters of 41 nm and 83 nm, respectively.