Hierarchical porous copper materials: fabrication and characterisation

Hierarchical porous copper bulk can be fabricated through chemical dealloying of porous CuAl intermetallics under free corrosion conditions. The obtained precursor porous CuAl intermetallics and as-dealloyed hierarchical porous copper were characterised using X-ray diffraction, a field-emission scanning electron microscope and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. It was found that the hierarchical porous copper can be easily prepared by this method. The dealloying solution will dramatically influence the morphology of the resultant hierarchical porous materials. As a result, trimodal porous copper composite material and bimodal porous copper can be achieved after being dealloyed in NaOH and HCl solutions, respectively. Therefore, the mechanisms of the evolution of hierarchical pores structure are also discussed.