Dr. Paola Rizzi

Assistant Professor at the Chemistry Department, University of Turin since 2004, with research interests in metallurgic archaeological artefacts, study and production of innovative metallic materials for industrial application.

 

Abstract
Due to their amorphous structure, glassy metals show unique properties with respect to crystalline counterparts. Among a large variety of applications, amorphous alloys can be regarded as precursors for the production of nanoporous metals.
Nanoporous metals can be produced, among others techniques, by dealloying, a process in which the less noble elements in an alloy are chemically or electrochemically dissolved into an electrolyte, leaving on the surface the noble element to form a complex structure composed by  ligaments and pores with size of tens or hundreds of nanometers. The interest for nanoporous gold (NPG) is currently increasing due to the relatively simple synthesis techniques and its structural, morphological and chemical flexibility. NPG can be produced in a large variety of morphologies and it is characterised by structural and chemical flexibility that allow to adapt it for different applications ranging from catalysis, electrocatalysis, electronics, and optics.
In this work, the production of NPG via dealloying of Au-based amorphous precursors  is outlined, showing how the final morphology can be tailored by controlling processing parameters and alloy composition. Moreover, the electrocatalytic activity is described for samples with different structures in order to determine the influence of the ligament/pore size on the final properties of the nanoporous gold.