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Title: Toward digitally controlled catalyst architectures: Hierarchical nanoporous gold via 3D printing

Journal Article · · Science Advances

Monolithic nanoporous metals, derived from dealloying, have a unique bicontinuous solid/void structure that provides both large surface area and high electrical conductivity, making them ideal candidates for various energy applications. However, many of these applications would greatly benefit from the integration of an engineered hierarchical macroporous network structure that increases and directs mass transport. We report on 3D (three-dimensional)–printed hierarchical nanoporous gold (3DP-hnp-Au) with engineered nonrandom macroarchitectures by combining 3D printing and dealloying. The material exhibits three distinct structural length scales ranging from the digitally controlled macroporous network structure (10 to 1000 μm) to the nanoscale pore/ligament morphology (30 to 500 nm) controlled by dealloying. Supercapacitance, pressure drop, and catalysis measurements reveal that the 3D hierarchical nature of our printed nanoporous metals markedly improves mass transport and reaction rates for both liquids and gases. Our approach can be applied to a variety of alloy systems and has the potential to revolutionize the design of (electro-)chemical plants by changing the scaling relations between volume and catalyst surface area.

Research Organization:
Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Integrated Mesoscale Architectures for Sustainable Catalysis (IMASC); Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); LLNL Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-07NA27344; SC0012573
OSTI ID:
1515346
Report Number(s):
LLNL-JRNL-772599; 964041
Journal Information:
Science Advances, Vol. 4, Issue 8; ISSN 2375-2548
Publisher:
AAASCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 142 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (10)

Engineering Self‐Supported Noble Metal Foams Toward Electrocatalysis and Beyond journal August 2019
Advanced Polymer Designs for Direct‐Ink‐Write 3D Printing journal July 2019
Hierarchical Nanoporous Copper Architectures via 3D Printing Technique for Highly Efficient Catalysts journal April 2019
Quantification of porosity in extensively nanoporous thin films in contact with gases and liquids journal September 2019
Chemistry from 3D printed objects journal April 2019
Hierarchical nanoporous Pd 1 Ag 1 alloy enables efficient electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction under ambient conditions journal January 2019
Nanoporous gold metamaterials for high sensitivity plasmonic sensing journal January 2019
Stiff isotropic lattices beyond the Maxwell criterion journal September 2019
Quantification of porosity in extensively nanoporous thin films in contact with gases and liquids journal September 2019
Stiff isotropic lattices beyond the Maxwell criterion journal September 2019

Figures / Tables (5)