We present a new technique for large-scale fabrication of colloidal crystals with controllable quality and thickness. The method is based on vertical deposition in the presence of a DC electric field normal to the conducting substrate. The crystal structure and quality are quantitatively characterized by microradian X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and optical reflectometry. Attraction between the charged colloidal spheres and the substrate promotes growth of thicker crystalline films, while the best-quality crystals are formed in the presence of repulsion. Highly ordered thick crystalline layers with a small amount of stacking faults and a low mosaic spread can be obtained by optimizing the growth conditions.
Here we report the synthesis and investigation of iron and iron oxide nanowire arrays using mesoporous silica as a host material. In the present work a novel variant of synthesis of ordered magnetic nanowires in the mesoporous silica matrix was suggested. The method is based on the incorporation of a hydrophobic metal compound into the hydrophobic part of silica-surfactant composite. The amount of iron intercalated into the mesoporous matrix was measured by chemical analysis. In all samples it corresponds well to with the molar ratio SiO2: Fe = 9:1. To provide crystallinity of nanowires additional thermal treatment was performed. Thus prepared nanocomposites were characterized by TEM, ED, SAXS, SANS, BET and magnetic measurements. The anisotropy parameters of nanowires were determined using two non-correlated methods: temperature dependence of magnetic susceptibility and small angle polarized neutron scattering. It was found that the particle length increases with the increasing of the decomposition temperature of the metal complex. Obviously it deals with crystallization and growth of metal particles inside the pores at a constant diameter of a single particle. For iron containing sample annealed at 375 °C (form factor of nanowire is about 40), the coercive force at room temperature was found to be 145 Oe at saturation magnetization of 1.2 emu/g, which is not far from modern information storage. It was shown that particles shape and size are in good agreement with that of the pores. Particles are uniform and well ordered in the silica matrix. Thus, the suggested method leads to one-dimensional anisotropic nanostructures which could find an application as high-density data storage magnetic media.
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