CoNi bimetallic nanofibers by electrospinning: Nickel-based soft magnetic material with improved magnetic properties

Recently, bimetallic nanostructures have received special interest due to their promising chemical and physical properties. In the literature, various complicated processes have been reported for the preparation of several bimetallic materials in a nanoparticulate shape. In this study, nanofibers, rather than nanoparticles, composed of cobalt and nickel are introduced; these nanofibers have been prepared by a facile technique, electrospinning. Typically, calcination of electrospun mats originating from nickel acetate, cobalt acetate, and poly(vinyl alcohol) in argon atmosphere led to complete elimination of the utilized polymer and abnormal decomposition of the metallic acetates to produce CoNi nanofibers. Physiochemical characterization indicated that both Ni and Co are uniformly distributed along the obtained nanofibers in the same profile which indicates that Ni and Co have been combined at the crystalline level. The prepared CoNi nanofibers revealed better magnetic properties compared with those of Co-doped Ni and pristine Ni nanofibers and have potential for use as nickel-based soft magnetic materials. © 2010 American Chemical Society.