Cations promoting synthesis of self-supported nanoporous silver electrode and its catalytic activity for oxygen reduction reaction

Self-supported nanoporous metals are promising catalysts and battery materials due to their continuous channels, excellent conductivity and high surface area. In this work, we found that Cu²⁺ cations could promote the spontaneous formation of AgCl on Ag surface via microcell reactions. Applying a potential to the silver electrode promotes the surface enrichment of Cu²⁺ cations, and further speeds the formation of AgCl. After electro-reduced, AgCl was transformed to self-supported silver electrode with nanoporous structures, which shows good catalytic activity for the oxygen reduction reaction and electrochemical stability together with superior methanol tolerance property, compared to the pristine silver electrode. The approach used in this work provides an alternative way to prepare self-supported nanoporous metals.