Gold nanoplating as a new method for the quantification of the electrochemical activity of grain boundaries in polycrystalline metals

In this work, a new methodology is presented for the investigation of the reactivity of grains and grain boundaries in polycrystalline metals. This method is based on the electrochemical displacement deposition of gold, where the gold is deposited in the form of particles from an aqueous solution on a polycrystalline metal surface. High purity cast copper substrates are used in this study as a model metal. The gold-nanoplated copper surface was characterized by means of three complementary analytical techniques, namely field emission scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray analysis and electron backscatter diffraction.