Temperature Influence on the Morphology and the Magnetic Properties of Vertically Aligned Fe-filled Carbon Nanotubes

Arrays of vertically aligned Fe-filled multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) on oxidized silicon substrates were prepared by pyrolysis of ferrocene in a dual furnace system and characterized by electron microscopy and magnetometry measurement. The effect of the growth temperature on both the filled nanotube morphology and their magnetic behavior was studied. Increasing the growth temperature in the range of 845-1035°C the nanotube alignment becomes worse and the diameter of the encapsulated Fe nanowires increases from 10 to 40 nm. Both the coercivity and the remanence ratio of the arrays of Fe-filled MWNTs decrease with the increase of the growth temperature. Factors causing the observed magnetic behavior are discussed.