Stiffening of nanoporous Au induced by water physisorption

This study concerns the elastic properties of nanoporous Au exposed to dry and humid air. The variation of relative humidity induces a strain connected with the water adsorption on the nanoporous Au surface. The strain behavior allows estimating the change in surface stress. We show that the strain behavior affects the effective Young's modulus of nanoporous Au and that the effect depends on the ligament size.