Abstract
An original and simple fabrication process to produce thin porous metal films on selected substrates is reported. The fabrication process includes the deposition of a thin layer of gold on a substrate, spin coating of a graphene oxide dispersion, etching the gold film through the graphene oxide layer, and removing the graphene oxide layer. The porosity of the thin gold film is controlled by varying the etching time, the thickness of the gold film, and the concentration of the graphene oxide dispersion. Images by scanning electron and metallurgical microscopes show a continuous gold film with random porosity formed on the substrate with a porosity size ranging between hundreds of nanometers to tens of micrometers. This general approach enables the fabrication of porous metal films using conventional microfabrication techniques. The proposed process is implemented to fabricate electrodes with patterned porosity that are used in a microfluidic system to manipulate living cells under dielectrophoresis. Porous electrodes are found to enhance the magnitude and spatial distribution of the dielectrophoretic force.