Ultra-strong nanoporous copper enabled by amorphization-directed dealloying

Nanoporous metals offer exceptional surface-area-enabled multifunctionality, yet their adoption as bulk structural materials has long been hindered by intrinsic fragility. Here, we present amorphization-directed dealloying, a transformative synthetic strategy that produces bulk nanoporous copper (NPCu) with a record specific compressive strength of 43.4 kN·m/kg, exceeding all previously reported porous coppers and approaching the performance of fully dense, commercially pure titanium. By kinetically steering the dealloying pathway away from crystallization and towards amorphization, this approach yields a hierarchical nanoligament architecture in which ultrafine twinned nanocrystals are embedded within an amorphous backbone. The resulting amorphous–nanocrystalline hybrid network achieves a three-fold strength enhancement over single-crystal NPCu while mitigating dealloying-induced stresses through compositionally guided precursor design. This novel synthesis strategy directly addresses the longstanding mechanical limitations of nanoporous metals, establishing a scalable framework for creating ultra-strong porous architectures and opening opportunities for their use as next-generation structural–functional materials.