FIB/TEM characterization of the composition and structure of core/shell Cu-Ni nanowires.

Characterization of composition and structure is crucial to understanding the properties and performance of nanomaterials. For nanowires and nanotubes, determining radial compositional and structural modulations is particularly challenging. Here we use a focused ion beam (FIB) lift-out technique to show that Cu-Ni core/shell nanowires fabricated by template synthesis are characterized by large, high purity (>99 atom %) copper grains surrounded by much smaller, high purity (>99 atom %) nickel grains.