Electrochemical preparation and magnetic properties of submicron Co x Pb1-x dendrites

Magnetic dendrites of Co (x) Pb1-x were fabricated through potentiostatic electrochemical deposition on Cu substrates in boric acid solution at room temperature. The as-deposited dendrites were determined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), electrodeposition (ED), and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). SEM results indicate that the Co (x) Pb1-x dendrites are highly symmetrical in structures. The diameters of the branches are about 50 similar to 200 nm, and the backbones are continuous with lengths up to about 10 mu m. XRD patterns show that the as-deposited dendrites are solid solutions. The annealing treatment can result in the recrystallization of these metastable alloys into two separate phases. TEM, ED, and EDS results also reveal that the backbones and the branches of the dendrites are composed of different amounts of cobalt. Magnetic measurements confirm that the as-deposited Co (x) Pb1-x dendrites have a softly ferromagnetic behavior, and a small coercive force (about 80 Oe). Also the saturation magnetizations of the Co (x) Pb1-x dendrites decrease rapidly with the temperature increasing.