Improving the chemical de-alloying of amorphous Au alloys

Abstract In this work, the chemical de-alloying behavior of Au 30 Cu 38 Ag 7 Pd 5 Si 20 (at.%) amorphous alloy which was rapidly solidified from the melt in the form of ribbons were investigated. First a comparison between samples de-alloyed in nitric acid with and without HF was conducted to achieve homogeneous de-alloying process. Then the morphology and structure of nanoporous gold (NPG) were adjusted by tuning the de-alloying parameters, such as HNO 3 concentration, electrolyte temperature and de-alloying time. Finally the surface enhanced Raman scattering(SERS) capability of the as-prepared NPG was evaluated using 4,4′-bi-pyridine as probe molecule.