STTR Phase I: Development of High Moment Corrosion Resistant Materials for Data Storage and Biomedical Applications

This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I research project will address the critical need for novel high-moment magnetic materials with improved corrosion resistance at the nanoscale for information storage and biosensor array applications. The innovative core of this Phase I work is the optimization of CoFeX alloys, where X is a noble metal, to achieve high corrosion resistance without compromising the magnetic moment or magnetically soft properties of the material and the production of electrodeposited sub-100nm CoFeX magnetic structures with verifiable mean magnetic moments above 2.4 Tesla and high corrosion resistance. Successful completion of this project will result in a stable fabrication process that will enable technology transfer to the manufacturing environment. The immediate impact of this research is to provide materials necessary to produce magnetic biosensors and transferable to the magnetic data storage industry. The broader impact of this work is to enrich the materials science and engineering of noble metal additives in magnetic alloy systems. Moreover, this research is expected to shed light on the corrosion of magnetic alloys and the transferability of the properties of electrochemically synthesized magnetic alloys to the nanoscale.