Spontaneous evolution of bicontinuous nanostructures in dealloyed Li-based systems

Qing Chen, Karl Sieradzki

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

176 Scopus citations

Abstract

Dealloying, the selective dissolution of one or more of the elemental components of an alloy, is an important corrosion mechanism and a technologically relevant process used to fabricate nanoporous metals for a variety of applications including catalysis, sensing, actuation, supercapacitors and radiation-damage-resistant materials. In noble-metal alloy systems for which the ambienterature solid-state diffusivity is minuscule, dealloying occurs at a composition-dependent critical potential above which bicontinuous nanoporous structures evolve and below which a full-coverage layer of the more-noble component forms causing the alloy surface to become passive. In contrast, for alloy systems exhibiting significant solid-state diffusive transport, our understanding of dealloying-induced morphologies and the electrochemical parameters controlling this are largely unexplored. Here, we examine dealloying of Li from Li-Sn alloys and show that depending on alloy composition, particle size and dealloying rate, all known dealloyed morphologies evolve including bicontinuous nanoporous structures and hollow core-shell particles. Furthermore, we elucidate the role of bulk diffusion in morphology evolution using chronopotentiometry and linear sweep voltammetry. Our results may have implications for lithium-ion battery development while significantly broadening the spectrum of strategies for obtaining new nanoporous materials through dealloying.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1102-1106
Number of pages5
JournalNature materials
Volume12
Issue number12
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2013

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Chemistry
  • General Materials Science
  • Condensed Matter Physics
  • Mechanics of Materials
  • Mechanical Engineering

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