Liquid-Metal Solvents for Designing Hierarchical Nanoporous Metals at Low Temperatures.

Abstract

Metallic nanoarchitectures hold immense value as functional materials across diverse applications. However, major challenges lie in effectively engineering their hierarchical porosity while achieving scalable fabrication at low processing temperatures. Here we present a liquid-metal solvent-based method for the nanoarchitecting and transformation of solid metals. This was achieved by reacting liquid gallium with solid metals to form crystalline entities. Nanoporous features were then created by selectively removing the less noble and comparatively softer gallium from the intermetallic crystals. By controlling the crystal growth and dealloying conditions, we realized the effective tuning of the micro-/nanoscale porosities. Proof-of-concept examples were shown by applying liquid gallium to solid copper, silver, gold, palladium, and platinum, while the strategy can be extended to a wider range of metals. This metallic-solvent-based route enables low-temperature fabrication of metallic nanoarchitectures with tailored porosity. By demonstrating large-surface-area and scalable hierarchical nanoporous metals, our work addresses the pressing demand for these materials in various sectors.