A million times smaller than a hair: The thinnest gold leaf in the world has been produced, and it has very strange properties and has many practical applications

GVTech News A million times smaller than a hair: The thinnest gold leaf in the world has been produced, and it has very strange properties and has many practical applications

Unusual manufacturing process

For many years, researchers sought to produce a sheet of gold one atom thick, a material they called “goldin.”

Recently, scientists at Linköping University in Sweden achieved this feat using a century-old method inspired by the art of Japanese blacksmithing.

Initially, gold leaf was a 3D material in which gold was embedded between layers of titanium and carbon. Despite many attempts, scientists had difficulty peeling this gold One sheet of corn paper.

Thanks to a method discovered by chance and used in the art of Japanese blacksmithing, researchers succeeded in extracting gold leaf from its matrix composed of gold and titanium carbide. This method, based on the Murakami detector, requires careful adjustments in concentration and run time, as well as dark conditions to prevent the cyanide from dissolving the gold. Ultimately, the researchers succeeded in producing gold foil just one atom thick, with a whole new set of potential applications.

Many practical applications

The discovery of this extremely thin gold leaf opens many possibilities for practical applications.

Thanks to its unique properties as a two-dimensional material, goldin can be used to convert some of the carbon dioxide (CO2) that is harmful to our climate. It can also serve as a catalyst for hydrogen production or be used in the selective production of value-added chemicals and in water purification.

In addition, existing applications for gold can be greatly enhanced by using ultra-thin gold foil, with the potential to significantly reduce the amount of gold needed for each application.

The successful production of the world's finest gold foil opens exciting new frontiers in materials research and offers great potential for major advances in many fields, from technology to the environment and medicine.