Fe–Cu films with pseudo‐ordered, hierarchical porosity are prepared by a simple, two‐step procedure that combines colloidal templating (using sub‐micrometer‐sized polystyrene spheres) with electrodeposition. The porosity degree of these films, estimated by ellipsometry measurements, is as high as 65%. The resulting magnetic properties can be controlled at room temperature using an applied electric field generated through an electric double layer in an anhydrous electrolyte. This material shows a remarkable 25% voltage‐driven coercivity reduction upon application of negative voltages, with excellent reversibility when a positive voltage is applied, and a short recovery time. The pronounced reduction of coercivity is mainly ascribed to electrostatic charge accumulation at the surface of the porous alloy, which occurs over a large fraction of the electrodeposited material due to its high surface‐area‐to‐volume ratio. The emergence of a hierarchical porosity is found to be crucial because it promotes the infiltration of the electrolyte into the structure of the film. The observed effects make this material a promising candidate to boost energy efficiency in magnetoelectrically actuated devices.
In this work, sustainable hydrophobic and oleophilic macroporous Fe-Cu films are fabricated using a straightforward, inexpensive and environmentally friendly twostep procedure which combines electrodeposition with the colloidal lithography technique. Elemental, morphological and structuralcharacterization of the resulting pseudo-ordered meshes is carried out and wettability is assessed using contact angle measurements with respect to two distinct film compositions (3 at.% Fe vs 75-85 at.% Fe) and three different pore diameters (namely, 200 nm, 350 nm and 500 nm). Water contact angles are measured to be in the range of approximately 109.0-155.1•(without any post-surface functionalization) and alow contact angle hysteresis is observed in the superhydrophobic samples. The increase in the hydrophobic character of the films correlates well with an increase in surface roughness, whereas differences incomposition play a minor role. For the superhydrophobic Fe-rich macroporous film, water-oil separation capability and recyclability are also demonstrated while the pore size is favorable for effective water-oil mixture and emulsion separation. The results shown here demonstrate that sustainable and affordable materials processed in a simple and cheap manner can be an asset for the removal of water-immiscibleorganic compounds from aqueous environments.
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