Nanoporous Copper from Electrochemical Dealloying of Brass

摘要

Copper based catalysts have been shown to reduce CO_2 electrochemically into hydrocarbons and oxygenates with high Faradaic efficiencies. The selectivity and the efficiency of CO_2 electroreduction could benefit from morphological studies on Cu nanocatalysts. Among several methods of fabricating Cu nanocatalysts, dealloying, i.e., the selective electrolytic dissolution of a less-noble element from an alloy, is one of the most flexible, controllable, and economical methods available to date. The product of this dissolution is a metallic nanoporous material: an interconnected ligament-pore structure with nearly zero net curvature.