Abstract

Dealloyed nanoporous metals have a unique bicontinuous solid/void structure that provides a sizable surface area and outstanding electrical conductivity, making them attractive candidates for use in a range of applications. But for many of these applications, the utilization of an engineered hierarchical porous network topology that promotes and optimizes mass transport would be quite advantageous. We present a soft template approach for the routine fabrication of hierarchical multimodal nanoporous gold monolith (hm-NPG). This self-supporting framework composed of multimodal porosity is produced employing a synergistic mix of metal reduction, templating, annealing, and chemical dealloying. This method provides for the simultaneous optimization of active surface area and mass transport in a porous metal electrode. It is reliable, simple, economical, accessible, and environmentally friendly. The procedure should be scalable and can produce hm-NPG for use in applications such as biosensing, energy systems, biofiltration, and catalysis. The material visually displays two visibly unique structural length scales that range from the macroporous network structure (average pore size of 0.58 ± 0.29 μm) to the mesoporous pore/ligament morphology (average pore size of 37 ± 10 nm) as determined by SEM analysis. Modification by self-assembly with lipoic acid (LA) gave a coverage of 5.12 × 1014 molecules/cm2 of the hm-NPG surface, according to calculations made using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) data. Following the dealloying procedure, a compositional study of the np-Au monolith using EDS revealed that it was almost 98.2 atomic % gold. The specific surface area of the hm-NPG was found to be 7.84 ± 0.01 m2/g (n = 3) through analysis utilizing the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) multi-point surface area method applied to krypton adsorption isotherms. BET analysis using N2 adsorption isotherms and the Barrett–Joyner–Halenda (BJH) pore distribution analysis gives strong evidence for the additional presence of micropores of diameter 2–3 nm, thus making the material likely trimodal.

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