Large-scale highly ordered arrays of freestanding magnetic nanowires

Grain-oriented segmentation of scanning electron microscope images

“…Since this method uses information about a single grain obtained through regional analysis, it can cope with defective images to some extent. This approach has been extended in subsequent researches [12][13][14][15]. The local contrast in SEM images of nanoporous alumina typically varies between regions.…”

“…The local contrast in SEM images of nanoporous alumina typically varies between regions. A number of segmentation methods have been proposed to overcome this issue using techniques such as fuzzy thresholding using entropy [13] or adaptive thresholding based on histogram equalization [14,15].…”

Electrodeposition efficiency of Ni in the fabrication of highly ordered nanowire arrays: The roles of Cu pre-plating and barrier layer temperature

“…Until now, a variety of methods including chemical vapor deposition, lithography, hydrothermal technique and electroplating have been employed to fabricate Ni NWs [10][11][12][13]. Amongst these approaches, the template-based synthesis of Ni NWs such as electrodeposition into porous aluminum oxide (PAO) templates has been more advantageous because of its low cost and flexibility [2,14,15]. Besides, it facilitates the fabrication of highly ordered Ni NWs with a large aspect ratio and tunable magnetic properties [1].…”

“…Nevertheless, the hydrogen evolution at the pores' bottom would inhibit the growth of NWs obtained from this approach [4,21]. M a n u s c r i p t 2 The alternative method which can overcome these limitations is a pulsed electrodeposition. Prior to performing this method, the barrier layer is thinned progressively by reducing the anodization voltage, thereby creating branched nanopores at the bottom of aligned pores and further facilitating the electrodeposition process [13].…”

“…Ni nanowires (NWs) have recently gained considerable attention due to their possible applications in magnetic nanodevices, biological sensors and battery anodes [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. Fast fabrication of patterned Ni NWs with a high degree of uniformity, long length and high density together with mass production can be demanding and important from both applicability and theoretical points of view [1,3,8,9].…”