Gold Foam Electrode (Porous Noble-Metal Current Collector)

Gold foam is a 3D, open-cell conductive scaffold used as a porous current collector and chemically inert electrode substrate. The interconnected pore network provides continuous electronic pathways while enabling electrolyte permeation through the thickness. This architecture increases effective interfacial area and improves mass transport compared with flat foils—especially valuable for low-noise electrochemistry where surface stability and reproducibility matter.

Material construction and key features

In practice, “gold foam” is commonly supplied as a gold-coated porous metal framework (or specialised nanoporous gold structures), delivering gold’s noble-metal surface chemistry while retaining a mechanically supportive backbone. Key characteristics include:

• High conductivity and stable contact across the scaffold
• Excellent chemical inertness in many electrolytes and wide pH ranges
• Surface stability for benchmarking, sensing, and catalyst studies
• Permeable 3D geometry supporting flow-through or gas-evolving experiments
  
  

Compatibility and integration

Gold foam integrates readily with standard electrochemical workflows using potentiostats/galvanostats (CV, chronoamperometry/chronopotentiometry, and EIS). It can be clamped into electrochemical cells, flow cells, and custom fixtures. For best repeatability, define exposed area, maintain consistent compression/contact geometry, and pre-wet the foam to stabilise wetting and impedance.

Typical applications

• Electrocatalysis and catalyst-layer studies where inert backing is critical
• Sensor electrodes and functional coatings requiring stable gold surface chemistry
• Corrosion-sensitive screening and reference substrate comparisons
• Flow-through porous electrode prototypes and controlled mass-transport tests
  
  

Why choose ScienceGears

ScienceGears supports AU/NZ researchers with foam selection guidance (metal chemistry, thickness, pore structure), cut-to-size requests, and practical integration advice across potentiostats and electrochemical cell hardware to improve experimental repeatability.