Migration of silver on the nanoporous glasses surface under the action of an electric field.

Experimentally, the formation of micro- and nano-labyrinths in grained silver film on the surface of nanoporous glass was shown. The movement of silver ions from the bulk of the nanoporous glass towards the glass surface gradually occurs under direct current application. A similar effect was observed under direct electron irradiation of grained silver film. The proposed mechanism assumes that observed effects are caused by the formation of "hot spots" with a strong electric field, by ionic field emission of positive silver ions from the small charged nanoparticles and by trapping these ions by large nanoparticles.