Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 March 2011
The structural properties of metallic nanowires prepared within the pores of nanoporous alumina membranes are investigated using EXAFS, XANES and High Energy X-Ray Diffraction (HED). Gold, silver, copper and iron nanowires show the same structure and atom-atom distances as the corresponding bulk metals. The structural properties of these metals do not change if the wire diameter is varied. Cobalt nanowires, however, show a size dependent mixture of fcc and hcp phases. The amount of fcc-Co, which in the bulk is only known as a high temperature modification, increases with decreasing wire diameter. This leads to interesting changes in the magnetic properties of Co nanowires.