Correlation between dealloying conditions and coarsening behaviors of nanoporous silver produced by chemical dealloying of Ca-Ag metallic glass

Nanoporous silver (NPS) with tunable ligament size was prepared by dealloying Ag_60.5Ca_39.5binary metallic glass in pure water and HCl aqueous solution. The influence of various dealloying parameters on the morphologies of NPS was evaluated comprehensively to reveal the coarsen behaviors of NPS produced from the glassy precursor. The ligament size of the resulting NPS can be correlated quantitatively using the surface diffusion model. Moreover, the as-dealloyed NPS with smaller ligament size and higher surface area shows higher electrochemical catalytic activity. The results provide the significant insight to synthesize NPS with desirable morphologies and performances by controlling the experimental parameters.