Ni
5Zn
21 alloy nanowires were fabricated through template-assisted electrochemical deposition method. Themorphology and microstructures of as-deposited nanowires were determined by field-emission scanning electronmicroscope (FE-SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), high-resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM),electron diffraction (ED), and electron probe microanalysis (EPMA). The accurate composition was measuredvia induced coupling plasma atomic emission spectroscopy. SEM results show that Ni
5Zn
21 nanowires aredeposited in most of the nanopores of the template, and they are continuous and dense throughout the wholelength. The XRD result demonstrates that the nanowires are mainly composed of a cubic
![](/images/gifchars/gamma.gif)
phase Ni
5Zn
21alloy, but there also exists a trace of Zn-rich
![](/images/gifchars/eta.gif)
phase. HRTEM and ED reveal that the alloy nanowires arepolycrystalline with the crystallite size of several tens of nanometers. EPMA of a single nanowire illustratesthat there exist Ni-rich microzones in as-deposited nanowires. Subsequent magnetic measurements of thearray also confirmed the existence of them. In addition, it can be further inferred that the shape of Ni-richmicrozones is probably barlike or disklike, from the anisotropy of zero field cooling/field cooling (ZFC/FC)curves as well as the vortex magnetization behavior of the Ni
5Zn
21 nanowire array. The low-temperaturemagnetoresistance of the Ni
5Zn
21 nanowire array was also measured. Giant magnetoresistance instead ofanisotropic magnetoresistance is suggested to be responsible for contributing to the magnetoresistance.