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Highly anisotropic SmCo 5 single crystal particles are promising candidates for high-density data storage and building nanocomposite permanent magnets with large maximum energy product. Previously, nanocrystalline SmCo 5 particles obtained by calciothermic reduction exhibit low magnetic energy product due to magnetic isotropy caused by severely agglomerated equiaxial particles. In this study, we report a new strategy to fabricate highly anisotropic SmCo 5 nanochips by reductive annealing of precursors with a special designed morphology. The precursors containing single crystal Co(OH) 2 nanoflakes and crystalline Sm(OH) 3 nanorods were synthesized by a hydrothermal process, and converted into SmCo 5 nanochips by subsequent thermal reduction, during which the Co(OH) 2 nanoflakes facilitate the formation of SmCo 5 nanochips as a template and Sm(OH) 3 nanorods help to maintain the hexagonal morphology and single crystal nature. The SmCo 5 nanochips exhibit strong magnetic anisotropy and excellent room temperature magnetic properties with a remanence of 7.7 kG, coercivity of 19.3 kOe, and maximum energy product of 14.4 MGOe, which is the highest recorded value for chemical synthesized nanostructured SmCo 5 particles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]