A new class of cluster-matrix nanocomposite Made of fully miscible components.

Nanocomposite materials, consisting of two or more phases, at least one of which has a nanoscale dimension, play a distinctive role in materials science because of the multiple possibilities for tailoring their structural properties and, consequently, their functionalities. In addition to the challenges of controlling the size, size distribution and volume fraction of nanometer phases, thermodynamic stability conditions limit the choice of constituent materials. This study goes beyond this limitation by showing the possibility of achieving nanocomposites from a bimetallic system, which exhibits complete miscibility under equilibrium conditions. A series of nanocomposite samples with different compositions were synthesized by the co-deposition of 2000-atoms Ni-clusters and an atomic flux of Cu-atoms using a novel Cluster Ion Beam Deposition system. The retention of the metastable nanostructure is ascertained from atom probe tomography (APT), magnetometry, and magneto-transport studies. APT confirms the presence of nanoscale regions with ≈100 at. % Ni. Magnetometry and magneto-transport studies reveal superparamagnetic behavior and magneto-resistance stemming from the single-domain ferromagnetic Ni-clusters embedded in the Cu-matrix. Essentially, the magnetic properties of the nanocomposites can be tailored by the precise control of the Ni concentration. The initial results offer a promising direction for future research on nanocomposites consisting of fully-miscible elements. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.