Abstract
Liquid metal dealloying has emerged as a novel technique to produce topologically complex nanoporous and nanocomposite structures with ultra-high interfacial area and other unique properties relevant for diverse material applications. This process is empirically known to require the selective dissolution of one element of a multicomponent solid alloy into a liquid metal to obtain desirable structures. However, how structures form is not known. Here we demonstrate, using mesoscale phase-field modelling and experiments, that nano/microstructural pattern formation during dealloying results from the interplay of (i) interfacial spinodal decomposition, forming compositional domain structures enriched in the immiscible element, and (ii) diffusion-coupled growth of the enriched solid phase and the liquid phase into the alloy. We highlight how those two basic mechanisms interact to yield a rich variety of topologically disconnected and connected structures. Moreover, we deduce scaling laws governing microstructural length scales and dealloying kinetics.
Highlights
Liquid metal dealloying has emerged as a novel technique to produce topologically complex nanoporous and nanocomposite structures with ultra-high interfacial area and other unique properties relevant for diverse material applications
Wada et al.[13] generalized this process to a larger class of materials by using a liquid metal in lieu of the acid bath, leading to the formation of similar nano/microstructures. This liquid metal dealloying (LMD) technique relies on the choice of the liquid metal element (C), required to possess a high enthalpy of mixing with one of the elements of the precursor A–B alloy: the miscible element (B) is dissolved selectively in the liquid metal, while the immiscible element (A) simultaneously organizes and forms a porous structure
They universally ignore the kinetics of the dissolved component in the dealloying medium, which we show here to play a crucial role in pattern formation during LMD
Summary
Liquid metal dealloying has emerged as a novel technique to produce topologically complex nanoporous and nanocomposite structures with ultra-high interfacial area and other unique properties relevant for diverse material applications. Using phase-field simulations and experiment, we show that interfacial spinodal decomposition destabilizes the dealloying front via the formation of compositional domains enriched in the immiscible element with an initial spacing of several nanometres.
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