Electrochemical deposition of macroporous platinum, palladium and cobalt films using polystyrene latex sphere templates

Highly ordered macroporous films of platinum, palladium and cobalt with regular arrays of spherical pores with diameters of 0.40, 0.70 or 1 μm are prepared by electrochemical deposition into the interstitial spaces of a template formed by polystyrene latex spheres self-assembled on gold electrodes; after deposition of platinum, palladium or cobalt, the polystyrene spheres are fully removed by washing in toluene to leave a highly periodic, hexagonal close packed, interconnected network of monodisperse spherical pores within the metal film, the size of which is determined by the diameter of the polystyrene latex particles used to prepare the template.