Refinement of Nanoporous Silver by Adding Surfactant to the Electrolyte

Self-supported nanoporous silver was fabricated by electrochemical dealloying Ag22Zn78 in 0.1 mol/l nitric acid at 0.2 V (SCE) with and without sodium dodecyl sulfate for different times. The average pores/ligaments size of nanoporous silver decreased noticeably and silver surface diffusivity decreased from 1.65 x 10(-11) cm(2) s(-1) to 2.69 x 10(-12) cm(2) s(-1) after adding sodium dodecyl sulfate to electrolyte, which is attributed to partial immobilization of silver adatoms. X-ray diffraction was utilized to investigate the crystal structure from the variation of the full-width at half-maximum. The formation mechanism of the nanoporosity with SDS is also discussed. (C) 2014 The Electrochemical Society. All rights reserved.