In situ studies on irradiation resistance of nanoporous Au through temperature-jump tests

Abstract

Nanoporous materials have great potentials to alleviate irradiation-induced damage due to their giant surface-to-volume ratio. Previous in situ irradiation study on nanoporous Au at room temperature has shown the shrinkage of nanopores due to the absorption of irradiation-induced defects, and the shrinkage rate is pore-size-dependent. In this follow-up temperature-dependent study, we show that both defect density and nanopores evolve with irradiation temperature. Higher temperature results in lower defect density and reduced shrinkage rate of nanopores. The sink strength of nanopores as a function of temperature is estimated. Moreover, nanoporous Au exhibits significantly enhanced swelling resistance compared to coarse-grained Au. Potential mechanisms for temperature dependent irradiation resistance of nanoporous metals are discussed.