Template-free synthesis and characterization of leaf-like Fe-Ni microstructures

Leaf-like Fe-Ni alloy have been synthesized via a facile hydrothermal approach without any soft and hard template. The structure of the leaf-like Fe-Ni alloy was characterized by Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDX). The dendrite trunks lengths of the leaf-like Fe-Ni alloy were about 2.0μm-8.5 μm, and those of the branch trunk ranged from 850.0 nm to 4.0 μm. Furthermore, it was founded that the formation of leaf-like Fe-Ni alloy strongly depended on the reaction temperature. Moreover, the magnetic and microwave absorption properties of products with various morphologies were also compared, and the result showed that the leaf-like Fe-Ni alloy had higher ferromagnetic and microwave absorption properties compared with spherical Fe-Ni alloy.