title: High surface area electrodes by template-free self-assembled hierarchical porous gold architecture.
abstract: The electrode active surface area is a crucial determinant in many electrochemical applications and devices. Porous metal substrates have been employed in electrode design, however construction of such materials generally involves multistep processes, generating in many instances electrodes exhibiting incomplete access to internal pore surfaces. Here we describe fabrication of electrodes comprising hierarchical, nano-to-microscale porous gold matrix, synthesized through spontaneous crystallization of gold thiocyanate in water. Cyclic voltammetry analysis revealed that the specific surface area of the conductive nanoporous Au microwires was very high and depended only upon the amount of gold used, not electrode areas or geometries. Application of the electrode in a pseudo-capacitor device is presented.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva 8410501, Israel; Ilse Katz Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva 8410501, Israel.
authors.forename: Ahiud
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Morag
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva 8410501, Israel.
authors.forename: Tatiana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Golub
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva 8410501, Israel.
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Becker
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva 8410501, Israel; Ilse Katz Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva 8410501, Israel. Electronic address: razj@bgu.ac.il.
authors.forename: Raz
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jelinek
keywords: Gold thiocyanate; Plasma; Porous gold; Supercapacitors