Self-Supporting Nanoporous Copper Film with High Porosity and Broadband Light Absorption for Efficient Solar Steam Generation

Solar steam generation(SSG)is a potential technology for freshwater production,which is expected to address the global water shortage problem.Some noble metals with good photothermal conversion performance have received wide concerns in SSG,while high cost limits their practical applications for water purification.Herein,a self-supporting nanoporous copper(NP-Cu)film was fabricated by one-step dealloying of a specially designed Al_(98)Cu_(2)precursor with a dilute solid solution structure.In-situ and ex-situ characterizations were performed to reveal the phase and microstructure evolutions during dealloying.The NP-Cu film shows a unique three-dimensional bicontinuous ligament-channel structure with high porosity(94.8%),multi scale-channels and nanoscale ligaments(24.2±4.4nm),leading to its strong broadband absorption over the 200–2500 nm wavelength More importantly,the NP-Cu film exhibits excellent SSG performance with high evaporation rate,superior efficiency and good stability.The strong desalination ability of NP-Cu also manifests its potential applications in seawater desalination.The related mechanism has been rationalized based upon the nanoporous network,localized surface plasmon resonance effect and hydrophilicity.

Effect of heat treatment of Mn-Cu precursors on morphology of dealloyed nanoporous copper

Nanoporous copper with nano-scale pore size was synthesized by dealloying Mn-Cu precursor alloy using a free corrosion method. The effects of heat treatment of Mn-Cu precursors on alloy phase, morphology and composition of the resultant nanoporous copper were investigated. It is revealed that the compositions distribute homogeneously in the bulk Mn-Cu precursors, which consequently results in a more fully dealloying for forming nanoporous copper. The alloy phase changes from Cuo.a9Mno.51 and Cuo.21Mno.79 of non-thermally treated precursor to Cuo.33Mn0.67 of heat treated alloy. The residual Mn content in nanoporous copper is decreased from 12.97% to 2.04% （molar fraction） made from the precursor without and with 95 h heat treatment. The typical pore shape of nanoporous copper prepared by dealloying the precursor without the heat treatment is divided into two different zones： the uniform bi-continuous structure zone and the blurry or no pore structure zone. Nanoporous copper is of a uniform sponge-like morphology made from the heat-treated precursor, and the average ligament diameter is 40 nm, far smaller than that from the non-thermally treated precursor, in which the average ligament diameter is estimated to be about 70 nm.

Dense copper azide synthesized by in-situ reaction of assembled nanoporous copper microspheres and its initiation performance

Copper azide with high density was successfully synthesized by in-situ reaction of nanoporous copper(NPC)precursor with HN_(3) gaseous.NPC with pore size of about 529 nm has been prepared by electroless plating using polystyrene(PS)as templates.The copper shells thickness of NPC was controlled by adjusting the PS loading amount.The effects of copper shell on the morphology,structure and density of copper azide were investigated.The conversion increased from 87.12%to 95.31%when copper shell thickness decrease from 100 to 50 nm.Meanwhile,the density of copper azide prepared by 529 nm NPC for 24 h was up to 2.38 g/cm^(3).The hollow structure of this NPC was filled by swelling of copper azide which guaranteed enough filling volume for keeping the same shape as well as improving the charge density.Moreover,HNS-IV explosive was successfully initiated by copper azide with minimum charge thickness of 0.55 mm,showing that copper azide prepared has excellent initiation performance,which has more advantages in the application of miniaturized explosive systems.

Eutectic-derived synthesis of hierarchically nanoporous copper for electrochemical actuation and solar steam generation

The utilization of nanoporous copper(np-Cu)as a metallic actuator has gained attention in recent years due to its cost-effectiveness in comparison to other precious metals.Despite this,the enhancement of np-Cu’s actuation performance remains a challenge due to limitations in its strain amplitude and actuation rate.Additionally,np-Cu has been deemed as a promising material for solar absorption due to its localized surface plasmon resonance effect.However,practical applications such as solar steam generators(SSGs)utilizing np-Cu have yet to be documented.In this study,we present the development of hierarchically nanoporous copper(HNC)through the dealloying of a eutectic Al-Cu alloy.The hierarchical structure of the HNC features a combination of ordered flat channels and randomly distributed continuous nanopores,which work in synergy to improve actuation performance.The ordered flat channels,with a sub-micron scale,facilitate rapid mass transport of electrolyte ions,while the nano-sized continuous pores,due to their large specific surface area,enhance the induced strain.Our results indicate that the HNC exhibits improved actuation performance,with a two times increase in both strain amplitude and rate in comparison to other reported np-Cu.Additionally,the HNC,for the first time,showcases excellent solar steam generation capabilities,with an evaporation rate of 1.47 kg·m^(-2)·h^(-1) and a photothermal conversion efficiency of 92%under a light intensity of 1 kW·m^(-2),which rivals that of nanoporous gold and silver film.The enhanced actuation performance and newly discovered solar steam generation properties of the HNC are attributed to its hierarchically porous structure.

Influence of cooling rate and addition of lanthanum and cerium on formation of nanoporous copper by chemical dealloying of Cu_(15)Al_(85) alloy

The influence of cooling rate and addition of La and Ce on the formation of nanoporous copper by chemical dealloying of Cu15Al85 alloy was studied. The components and microstructures of nanoporous copper were characterized by utilizing X-ray diffrac-tion, field emission scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray analysis. N2 adsorption/desorption experiments were used to evaluate specific surface areas of samples. The results showed that, with the increase of cooling rate, phase composition of precursor alloy almost had no change, the ligament size of nanoporous copper had a decrease trend, and specific surface area in-creased gradually. And it was found that the specific surface area of the nanoporous copper obtained by Cu15Al85 alloy containing La and Ce was 63.258 m2/g, which was more than 11.739 m2/g compared with the nanoporous copper dealloying by Cu15Al85 alloy without La and Ce under the same conditions.

Morphologies and corrosion resistances of electroless Ni-P coated nanoporous coppers

In order to improve the corrosion resistance of nanoporous coppers （NPCs）, the electroless Ni-P coated NPCs were prepared in plating solutions with different pH values （5, 8, 11） and complexing agent （actic acid, citric acid）. The morphologies and cor- rosion resistances of the as-prepared samples were investigated. The results showed that the double complexing agent com- posed of lactic acid and citric acid is relatively suitable for preparing the Ni-P coated NPC with three-dimensional continuous interpenetrating ligament-channel structures, and the uniform ligaments and nanoporous channels could be obtained at pH8. The Ni-P coated NPC showed higher corrosion potentials than NPC in H2S04, NaOH and NaC1 corrosion solutions.

Relationship between dealloying conditions and coarsening behaviors of nanoporous copper fabricated by dealloying Cu-Ce metallic glasses

Monolithic nanoporous copper （NPC） with tunable ligament size （107-438 nm） was synthesized by dealloying a new Cu-Ce binary glassy precursor in dilute H2 SO4 aqueous solution. The effects of the dealloying conditions on the morphologies of NPC were evaluated comprehensively. The results show that the ligaments of NPC can significantly coarsen with the increase of acid concentration, elevation of reaction temperature or prolongation of immersion time. These coarsening behaviors can be well described by a diffusion based growth kinetic model. Moreover, the surface diffusivity and activation energy for diffu- sion of Cu atoms were also estimated to investigate the formation mechanism of NPC, which is mainly governed by dissolution of Ce element in the glassy precursor coupled with nucleation and growth of Cu clusters via the precursor/solution interface. In the experiment of the degradation of methyl orange （MO） dye, the NPC fabricated by Cu-Ce metallic glasses exhibits superior sono-catalytic activity.2018 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The editorial office of Journal of Materials Science ＆ Technology.

Fabrication and Dealloying Behavior of Monolithic Nanoporous Copper Ribbons with Bimodal Channel Size Distributions

Monolithic nanoporous copper （NPC） ribbons with bimodal channel size distributions can be fabricated through chemical dealloying of Mg-32 Cu alloy in an acidic solution at room temperature. The microstructure of the as- dealloyed samples was characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and energy dispersive X-ray analysis. These NPC ribbons are composed of interconnected large-sized channels （hundreds of nm） with highly porous channel walls （tens of nm）. Both large- and small-sized channels are open, bicontinuous, and interpenetrating. Additionally, it is the first time to find that the evolution process of porous structure along the thickness direction of samples during the dealloying is from the interior to exterior, which is just contrary to the coarsening process along the thickness direction during the post-dealloying. Meanwhile, the corresponding mechanism is discussed in detail.

Scaling laws and mechanical properties of nanoporous copper

Through molecular dynamics simulations,the mechanical behavior of nanoporous copper under impact loading was investigated with relative densities ranging from 77.91% to 98.36%,focusing on deformation mechanism,the scaling laws and influence of ligament sizes.Results show that the classical Gibson-Ashby′s scaling laws should be modified for prediction of both the Young′s modulus and yield stress.A proportional relationship is established between cell wall thickness and yield stress,and new modified scaling equations are built for nanoporous copper with consideration on both relative mass density and size effects of ligaments.The size effect can be explained by larger surface area/volume ratio of samples with thinner ligament size and limited dislocation source activation due to narrow space between larger numbers of voids.

MULTIAXIAL BEHAVIOR OF NANOPOROUS SINGLE CRYSTAL COPPER:A MOLECULAR DYNAMICS STUDY

The stress-strain behavior and copper are studied by the molecular dynamics incipient yield surface of nanoporous single crystal （MD） method. The problem is modeled by a periodic unit cell subject to multi-axial loading. The loading induced defect evolution is explored. The incipient yield surfaces are found to be tension-compression asymmetric. For a given void volume fraction, apparent size effects in the yield surface are predicted： the smaller behaves stronger. The evolution pattern of defects （i.e., dislocation and stacking faults） is insensitive to the model size and void volume fraction. However, it is loading path dependent. Squared prismatic dislocation loops dominate the incipient yielding under hydrostatic tension while stacking-faults are the primary defects for hydrostatic compression and uniaxial tension/compression.