Multiscale Morphology of Nanoporous Copper Made from Intermetallic Phases

Many application-relevant properties of nanoporous metals critically depend on their multiscale architecture. For example, the intrinsically high step-edge density of curved surfaces at the nanoscale provides highly reactive sites for catalysis, whereas the macroscale pore and grain morphology determines the macroscopic properties, such as mass transport, electrical conductivity, or mechanical properties. In this work, we systematically study the effects of alloy composition and dealloying conditions on the multiscale morphology of nanoporous copper (np-Cu) made from various commercial Zn-Cu precursor alloys. Using a combination of X-ray diffraction, electron backscatter diffraction, and focused ion beam cross-sectional analysis, our results reveal that the macroscopic grain structure of the starting alloy surprisingly survives the dealloying process, despite a change in crystal structure from body-centered cubic (Zn-Cu starting alloy) to face-centered cubic (Cu). The nanoscale structure can be controlled by the acid used for dealloying with HCl leading to a larger and more faceted ligament morphology compared to that of H₃PO₄. Anhydrous ethanol dehydrogenation was used as a probe reaction to test the effect of the nanoscale ligament morphology on the apparent activation energy of the reaction.