Scientists Creates The Thinnest Gold In The World, The Future Material For Technology

Vaibhav Kapadia - Aug 29, 2019

The newly created world's thinnest gold is only 0.47 nanometers thick and even a human’s fingernail is 1 million times thicker than it is.

Recently, scientists from Britain have created and introduced what they call the world’s thinnest gold.

It is only 0.47 nanometers thick and even a human’s fingernail is 1 million times thicker than it is. The new form of gold is considered 2D since it is only 2 atoms layers stacking on top of each other. Alternatively stated, there are only surface atoms, there is nothing called bulk atoms are hidden under the surface.

The-thinnest-gold-created-by-British-scientists-1 — The thinnest gold created by British scientists

Researchers from the University of Leeds believe that the material could be applied widely in electronics industries as well as the medical device. It could also be a catalyst which helps increase the speed of chemical reactions in various industrial processes.

The research team says in Advanced Science journal that after lab tests, the result showed that when working as a catalytic substrate, it’s ten times more efficient than the gold nanoparticles currently used, which are 3D materials having most of the atoms that reside in the bulk instead of at the surface.

It's-only-47nm-thick-2 — It's only 47nm thick

According to Sunjie Ye – the lead author, this work can constitute an outstanding achievement. She also says that it not only offers the possibility for gold to be used in current technologies more efficiently but it is also providing a way that would let material scientists develop other kinds of 2D metals.

Being synthesized in an aqueous solution, the nanosheet then begins with chloroauric acid which is an inorganic compound containing gold. Afterward, it’s reduced to the metallic form and presents as a confinement agent, or in other words, a chemical encouraging the gold to form as a sheet.

The-new-form-of-gold-is-considered-2D-3 — The new form of gold is considered 2D

Based on its color in water (green) as well as its shape, it is called “nanoseaweed” by the research team.

According to Stephen Evans – the co-author, what makes these super-thin sheets so value lies in their surface-area-to-volume-ratio.

The co-author says that the material is an extremely effective catalyst. Evans also says:

Moreover, the flakes have flexibility, meaning we can use them to produce electronics components for electronic inks, bendable screens, as well as transparent conducting displays.

As Evans says, the comparisons between graphene and 2D gold will be inevitable. Graphene is 1^st 2D material that has ever been created. It was fabricated in 2004, at the University of Manchester, the United Kingdom.