The Diverse Nanostructure of Electroless Plated CoNiFeB Alloy: Thin Film, Nanotubes and Nanoparticles

We prepared Co-Ni-Fe-B alloys by electroless plating into porous polycarbonate membranes and investigated the formation of the nanostructure using high-resolution scanning electron microscope images and magnetic measurements. The formation of the nanostructure occurs in five stages: nucleation, particle growth, percolation, film formation and films growth. High-resolution SEM images combined with magnetic measurements reveals that the nanostructure of the deposits consists of nanotubes, nanoparticles and thin film, which is directly linked to the stages of formation. Nanotubes with various lengths were obtained with typical values between 3 to 6 μm and with wall thickness varying from 50 to 90 nm, whereas nanoparticles have average diameter up to 45 nm both depending on deposition time. The magnetic measurements show that the nanostructured (Co₁₂Ni₆₀Fe₂₈)₈₈B₁₂ alloys have specific saturation magnetization of (88.6 ± 7.7) JT^-1kg^-1 for samples deposited for periods ranging from 2 to 60 min.