title: Enhanced strain in functional nanoporous gold with a dual microscopic length scale structure.
abstract: We have synthesized nanoporous Au with a dual microscopic length scale by exploiting the crystal structure of the alloy precursor. The synthesized mesoscopic material is characterized by stacked Au layers of submicrometer thickness. In addition, each layer displays nanoporosity through the entire bulk. It is shown that the thickness of these layers can be tailored via the grain size of the alloy precursor. The two-length-scale structure enhances the functional properties of nanoporous gold, leading to charge-induced strains of amplitude up to 6%, which are roughly 2 orders of magnitude larger than in nanoporous Au with the standard one-length-scale porous morphology. A model is presented to describe these phenomena.
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Physics, Zernike institute for Advanced Materials and Materials Innovation Institute M2i, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 4, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Detsi
authors.forename: Sergey
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Punzhin
authors.forename: Jiancun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rao
authors.forename: Patrick R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Onck
authors.forename: Jeff Th M
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: De Hosson