Experimental and micromagnetic investigation of texture influence on magnetic properties of anisotropic Co/Co3O4 exchange-bias composites

Abstract

The exchange interaction between nanostructured components is an effective way to enhance the magnetic properties of materials. This effect is used in exchange-coupled magnetic composites, which properties are governed by synergetic impact of constituent phases. Texturing is one of the problems that needs to be solved in order for such composites to be used in industry. In this work, we performed experimental and micromagnetic investigation of the exchange-bias properties in Co/Co3O4 nanocomposites based on nanorods array. Specifically, we investigated how the resulting properties will change depending on the nanorods texture. Our experiments proved previous theoretical calculations of exchange-bias nanorods array-based composites that showed that magnetic properties of such materials are dependent on the internal texture. Tailoring the texture can lead to either increase of exchange-bias field, or to enhancement of material coercivity.