Fundamental physics and chemistry of nanoporosity evolution during dealloying

The theoretical foundations of the study of nanoporous gold have made significant progress in the past 20 years. This is a particularly rich area of materials science, touching on the branches of electrochemistry, surface science, thermodynamics, and applied mathematics. Successes include clarification of the nature of percolation in describing the parting limit, the nature of thermodynamics in predicting the critical potential, and a working model for porosity evolution that includes only realistic surface diffusion kinetics. An important aspect to note is that the rise in interest in nanoporous gold, and nanoporous metals made by dealloying generally, could not have been made without these advances in the fundamental areas.