Sintering and ripening resistant noble metal nanostructures
AssigneeSandia Corporation
InventorsFrank B. van Swol, Yujiang Song, John A. Shelnutt, James E. Miller, Sivakumar R. Challa
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Abstract
Durable porous metal nanostructures comprising thin metal nanosheets that are metastable under some conditions that commonly produce rapid reduction in surface area due to sintering and/or Ostwald ripening. The invention further comprises the method for making such durable porous metal nanostructures. Durable, high-surface area nanostructures result from the formation of persistent durable holes or pores in metal nanosheets formed from dendritic nanosheets.
Claims19
A durable porous metal nanostructure, comprising:
- a thin metal nanosheet, wherein the thin metal nanosheet has a thickness less than or equal to 20 nm and wherein the thin metal nanosheet has a distribution of pores, wherein a pore lateral dimension is greater than or equal to 80% of the thickness and wherein a structure of the thin metal nanosheet is at least 75% nonbranching.
A method for making a durable perforated metal nanostructure comprising:
- preparing a dendritic metal nanostructure, wherein the dendritic metal nanostructure comprises a two-dimensional sheet of branches with gaps between branches;
- and
- inducing diffusion by elevating a temperature of the dendritic metal nanostructure to close at least 75% of the gaps between branches to form pores to make the durable perforated metal nanostructure.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.