Liquid metals dealloying as a general approach for the selective extraction of metals and the fabrication of nanoporous metals: A review

Liquid metal dealloying, a method of etching based on different solubilities of each component of the alloy into the liquid metal, has been extensively developed for metallurgical and structural materials applications. This review discusses the development on liquid metal dealloying for recycling alloy scraps and the fabrication of nano-porous materials. Extracting and recycling the valuable metal from alloy scraps by liquid metal dealloying can be more efficient and environmentally friendlier comparing to traditional alloy treatment processes for metal recovery. Manufacturing of nano-porous materials by liquid metal dealloying, not only can meet the need for efficient production of less noble metal nano-porous materials, but also can precisely control the morphology of the nano-pores by adjusting the dealloying conditions. This review demonstrates that liquid metal dealloying opens new avenues for the recycling of alloy scraps and for the fabrication of nano-porous metals, in addition to a wide variety of other promising applications.