Noble Metal-based Nanoporous Powders and Wires With Controlled Topological Nanostructures Via Convenient Electrochemical Techniques

Noble metals with controlled topological nanostructures of large specific surfaceareas hold great commercial values in many important industrial fields (such as,catalysis, surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), and fuel cells).However, there is a lack of low-cost techniques for constructing these materials.In fact, current commercial products are generally limited to metal foams ormeshes for meeting the huge demands of high surface area metal frameworks.Notably, these products only possess fairly low surface area (0.001-0.1 m2/g),greatly restricting the final device performance. Based on our recent invention(PCT/CN2016/084027, patent filed in May 2016), we propose an economical andeffective method for bestowing noble metal wires with controlled topologicalnanostructures through repetitive electrodeposition and dealloying. This novelmethod is well-suited for automated large-scale manufacturing, and isenvironmental friendly, energy-efficient, and applicable to wide ranging noblemetal systems. The highly stretchable, flexible, and weavable nanostructurednoble metal wires enabled here will be of great practical importance for widerangingapplications: this project will focus on their applications as supercapacitorelectrode materials.