Specific ion effects directed noble metal aerogels: Versatile manipulation for electrocatalysis and beyond

• Published in: Science advances Vol. 5; no. 5; p. eaaw4590
• Main Authors: Du, Ran, Hu, Yue, Hübner, René, Joswig, Jan-Ole, Fan, Xuelin, Schneider, Kristian, Eychmüller, Alexander
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Association for the Advancement of Science 01.05.2019
• Subjects: Chemistry; Materials Science; SciAdv r-articles
• ISSN: 2375-2548; 2375-2548
• DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aaw4590

Noble metal foams (NMFs) are a new class of functional materials featuring properties of both noble metals and monolithic porous materials, providing impressive prospects in diverse fields. Among reported synthetic methods, the sol-gel approach manifests overwhelming advantages for versatile synthesis of nanostructured NMFs (i.e., noble metal aerogels) under mild conditions. However, limited gelation methods and elusive formation mechanisms retard structure/composition manipulation, hampering on-demand design for practical applications. Here, highly tunable NMFs are fabricated by activating specific ion effects, enabling various single/alloy aerogels with adjustable composition (Au, Ag, Pd, and Pt), ligament sizes (3.1 to 142.0 nm), and special morphologies. Their superior performance in programmable self-propulsion devices and electrocatalytic alcohol oxidation is also demonstrated. This study provides a conceptually new approach to fabricate and manipulate NMFs and an overall framework for understanding the gelation mechanism, paving the way for on-target design of NMFs and investigating structure-performance relationships for versatile applications.