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• A simple liquid Ga assisted-alloying/dealloying strategy to fabricate nanoporous Ag. • The thickness of alloy layer/nanoporous Ag varies with the mass loading of Ga. • The bimodal wire-like and unimodal bulk-like nanoporous Ag is obtained. • The substrate-supported nanoporous Ag exhibits excellent mechanical properties. The substrate-supported nanoporous Ag with controllable thickness and different morphologies (bulk-like and wire-like) is fabricated via the liquid Ga-assisted alloying/dealloying strategy. [Display omitted] Nanoporous metals show great potentials in various applications including catalysis, sensing, actuation and supercapacitors. The liquid Ga-assisted alloying/dealloying strategy is a feasible and scalable way to fabricate substrate-supported nanoporous metals. However, the influence of intrinsic alloying mode and mechanism on the formation and modulation of nanoporous structure has not been thoroughly explored before. In this work, after painting liquid Ga on Ag foil, both the bulk-like Ag 3 Ga (in the Ag-rich zone) and wire-like Ag 3 Ga (in the liquid Ga-rich zone) form owing to the interdiffusion of Ag and Ga atoms. Correspondingly, the bimodal wire-like and unimodal bulk-like nanoporous Ag is obtained because of the structure inheritance during dealloying. In addition, the thickness of alloy layer (nanoporous layer) versus mass loading of liquid Ga follows a good linear relationship. The in-situ X-ray diffraction of dealloying from Ag 3 Ga to nanoporous Ag illustrates no other intermetallic phase appears and the dealloying process can be described by the dissolution-surface diffusion model. More importantly, the substrate-supported nanoporous Ag exhibits excellent mechanical properties which are of great importance to the future applications of nanoporous metals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanoporous tungsten (np-W) synthesized by a facile dealloying strategy was utilized as the host to accommodate tellurium (Te) for Li-Te batteries. The np-W supported Te (np-W-Te) cathode exhibits an excellent specific volumetric capacity of 1168 mA h cm−3 after 30 cycles, a good cycling performance of 200 cycles with a coulombic efficiency over 98.9%, and fast rate capabilities of 1612 mA h cm−3 at a current density of 50 mA g−1 and 774 mA h cm−3 at 800 mA g−1. The excellent performance of the np-W-Te cathode is attributed to the highly dispersed Te impregnated in the np-W host with rich porosity, high conductivity and superior stability. The mechanism investigation by in situ Raman and ex situ XRD techniques demonstrates the reversible transformation between Li and Li 2 Te during the charge/discharge processes. This study highlights the nanoporous metal as a promising host to confine Te for Li-Te batteries. Nanoporous tungsten synthesized by dealloying acted as the host to accommodate Te for Li-Te batteries. ga1 • The as-dealloyed nanoporous W hosted Te as the cathode for Li-Te batteries. • The cathode exhibited high specific capacity, good cycling and rate performances. • The reversible conversion between Te and Li 2 Te is the mechanism for the battery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]