Sponge like nanoporous single crystals of gold

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a novel method to grow nanoporous single crystals of gold inspired by natural porous crystals, using eutectic melt solidification and a kinetic model to predict pore size, enabling controlled fabrication of single crystalline nano-porous metals.

Contribution

The study introduces a new approach for synthesizing nanoporous gold single crystals without elaborate fabrication, supported by a kinetic model for pore size prediction.

Findings

Nanoporous gold single crystals can be grown via eutectic melt solidification.

The process retains single crystallinity due to rapid crystallization.

A kinetic model predicts the size of the porous structures.

Abstract

Single crystals in nature often demonstrate fascinating intricate porous morphologies rather than classical faceted surfaces. We attempt to grow such crystals, drawing inspiration from biogenic porous single crystals. Here we show that nanoporous single crystals of gold can be grown with no need for any elaborate fabrication steps. These crystals are found to grow following solidification of a eutectic composition melt that forms as a result of the dewetting of nanometric thin films. We also present a kinetic model that shows how this nano-porous single-crystalline structure can be obtained, and which allows the potential size of the porous single crystal to be predicted. Retaining their single crystalline nature is due to the fact that the full crystallization process is faster than the average period between two subsequent nucleation events. Our findings clearly demonstrate that it is possible to form singe crystalline nano porous metal crystals in a controlled manner. INTRODUCTION