Combining High Porosity with High Surface Area in Flexible Interconnected Nanowire Meshes for Hydrogen Generation and Beyond

Nanostructured metals with large surface area have a great potential for multiple device applications. Although various metal architectures based on metal nanoligaments and nanowires are well known, they typically show a tradeoff between mechanical robustness, high surface area and high (macro)porosity, which, when combined, could significantly improve the performance of devices such as batteries, electrolyzers or sensors. In this work we rationally designed templated networks of interconnected metal nanowires, combining for the first time high porosity of metal foams, narrowly-distributed macropores and a very high surface area of nanoporous dealloyed metals. Thanks to their structural uniformity, the few-micron thick nanowire meshes are also remarkably flexible and durable. We show how the textural properties of the material can be precisely tuned to optimize the nanowire networks for applications in different devices. In an exemplary application in electrolytic production of hydrogen, thanks to its hig...