CAREER: A Multi-modal Study of Bi-continuous Pattern Formation in Nano/Meso Composite and Porous Metals Films via Solid-State Interfacial Dealloying

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Non-Technical Summary: Fundamental kinetics and thermodynamics understanding in materials across multiple time and spatial scales will lead to elegant methods for designing novel architectures that enable new capabilities and benefits for society. Driven by this overarching goal, this Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award supports research to examine an emerging versatile method for fabricating interconnected bi-continuous metal-metal composites and high-surface porous metals at nano/meso scales. The project will enable the design of new materials possessing new functions in a wide range of important fields, including sensing, actuating, energy storage and catalysis. This CAREER award will also support an integrated educational plan based on a Stony Brook University (SBU) - Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) collaboration. The efforts will inspire and grow a diverse student body to pursue materials science and engineering, a critical technology for our society's future. In particular, students will be inspired by gaining opportunities to study materials using advanced synchrotron X-ray techniques at the National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II). Creating synergy between a university, a national laboratory and the community will directly benefit students, researchers and the general population by enabling them to work in and/or gain inspiration and knowledge from the research being performed. Technical Summary: This CAREER award will support research that focuses on examining an emerging dealloying process: solid-state interfacial dealloying (SSID). A self-organizing process, SSID is a versatile method for fabricating bi-continuous metal-metal composites and porous metals at nano/meso scales. SSID opens a new route to synthesize such structures, particularly in non-noble metals. SSID may also potentially be used to create high surface area metal/metal oxides with high thermal stability and chemical reactivity. The processing-structure-property correlations in these materials will be characterized by in situ synchrotron techniques. A multi-modal approach will be implemented by combining different X-ray techniques at NSLS-II. The research objectives of this proposal are 1) to create a new class of nano/meso metal-metal composites and porous metal films via this SSID process, 2) to understand the fundamental mechanisms that govern its material evolution in morphology, structure and chemical composition, and 3) to correlate processing and structure with the thermal and chemical properties. The educational objectives of this proposal are to integrate synchrotron techniques in materials science and engineering education through personal research engagement and mentoring, as well as curriculum development.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.