In the present study, a systematic investigation is performed to assess the relationship between electroplating parameters, pore morphology and internal surface area of copper deposits which are promising to serve as electrodes for electrochemical reduction reactions of carbon dioxide (CO2). A set of porous copper deposits are fabricated with the dynamic hydrogen bubble template method. The microstructural and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) analysis demonstrate that current density, deposition time, and bath composition control pore size, strut size, and hence surface area which could be as high as 20 m2/g. Selected sets of porous copper electrodes are then employed in the electrochemical reduction reaction test to determine their conversion performance in comparison to a monolithic copper surface. From the gas chromatography (GC) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analysis, porous copper is shown to provide higher rates of production of some important chemicals, as compared to copper foil electrodes. Porous copper with fern-like morphology serves as a promising electrode that yields relatively high amounts of acetaldehyde, acetate and ethanol. The study thus presents the opportunities to enhance the electrochemical reduction reaction of CO2 through microstructural engineering of the copper surface, which benefits both CO2 reduction and generation of chemical products of high value.

Abstract. Diffusion couples of pure gold and pure tin were created by mechanical cold rolling method. The couples were isothermally treated at temperatures slightly above and below the eutectic temperature near tin-rich region of the equilibrium phase diagram. Differences in the diffusion behaviors were observed as a function of treatment temperatures below (473 K) and above (498 K) the eutectic temperature. At the boundary, it was found that first solid state inter-diffusion was initiated which resulted in local compositional change and solid-state formation of intermetallic compounds (IMCs). As the composition shifts away towards mixing, the growth of the intermetallic phases was monitored as a function of temperature and time. At temperature above the eutectic, there may be a liquid fraction as the interface isothermally melted. The kinetic involves dissolution of Au atoms into localized tin-rich liquid. At below eutectic temperature, the formation and growth kinetic of phases follows a solid state diffusion mechanism. By investigation the exponent n values in the growth equation l=k(t/t0)n, the values were found to be in between 0.62 -0.77 which implies that the kinetics of IMC formations experiment are controlled by both diffusion and intermetallic reaction. The bonding time was found to be faster and more reliable at bonding temperature slightly above the eutectic.

The electrochemical reduction process is one of the most promising approaches to both efficiently remove the important greenhouse gas CO2 and convert it to chemical products of high value. However, in addition to the configuration of electrochemical cells, electrocatalysts are main factors affecting key performances in electrochemical CO2 reduction reactions. Recently, studies have been conducted to investigate the roles of metal‐based electrocatalysts and improve their performances through alloying, oxidization, and microstructural modulations. This review comprehensively discusses and analyzes the developments made in such metal‐based electrocatalyst studies and presents the advancements of important metals for use in electrochemical CO2 reduction processes. The relationships between the electrodes' microstructure, chemistry, and efficiency in CO2 conversion are also compared and discussed.

The Au-Sn soldering alloys are commonly used in microsoldering process for microelectronic industry due to fluxless process and relatively low melting temperature with good eutectic microstructures. This study investigated the microstructures of Au-Sn soldering between AlTiC and Si substrates with Ti/Pt/Au under bump metallization (UBM). The microstructures of the solder samples under three conditions: before bonding, after bonding and after thermal-cycle aging, were investigated. The shear strength values of pre-aging and post-aging soldering were compared. The thermal-cycling temperatures were ranged from -40 to 125 °C for 300 cycles. The intermetallic compounds (IMCs) of the AuSn solders consist of AuSn, AuSn2, and AuSn4. After thermal-cycle aging, the bonding strength was increased due to the improved IMC bonding between solders and UBM; the shear surfaces were rougher due to the growth of AuSn and AuSn2.