Controllable fabrication and magnetic-field assisted alignment of Fe3O4-coated Ag nanowires via a facile co-precipitation method

In order to further improve their properties and functions and extend their applications in various technology fields, it is desired to decorate Ag NWs with foreign magnetic materials. In this work, silver nanowires (Ag NWs) decorated with magnetite nanoparticles have been fabricated by a facile co-precipitation method, which was conducted in de-ionized water with iron ions and Ag NWs as starting materials. The as-prepared Fe3O4-coated Ag NWs are well characterized by XRD, XPS, FT-IR, SEM and TEM techniques. The amount of magnetite nanoparticles decorated on the Ag NWs can be controlled by adjusting the initial mass ratio of iron ions to Ag NWs. The Fe3O4-coated Ag NWs show good electrical and ferromagnetic properties at room temperature and their electrical and magnetic properties depend on the amount of magnetite nanoparticles decorated on the Ag NWs. The Fe3O4-coated Ag NWs can be highly aligned by an external magnetic field. The results suggest that the alignment of the decorated Ag NWs displays significant dependences on the amount of magnetite nanoparticles.