Simultaneous fabrication of porous metals and metallic nanowires via atmospheric pressure plasma-assisted electro-dealloying

Porous metals and metallic nanowires have gained significant attention for their potential applications in catalysis, sensing, and energy storage. Developing a versatile and efficient method for fabricating these functional materials is crucial but remains challenging. Herein, we report a novel and facile electro-dealloying strategy to simultaneously fabricate porous metals and metallic nanowires using atmospheric radio-frequency(RF) capacitively coupled plasmas. The synergistic effect of the heating and plasma sheath’s electric field lead to the nonequilibrium melting of the alloy, resulting continuous ejection of the melted segments to form nanowires and let the unmelted residual parts evolve into a porous structure. This method is applicable to alloys with large melting point differences of their constituent elements, and provides a promising approach to fabricate porous metals and metallic nanowires for a wide range of functional applications.