Unlocking value in gold: scientists make ‘remarkable properties’ of gold nanoparticles more accessible

Breaking down gold to billionths of a meter produces nanoparticles that may enhance commercial and industrial processes, “including acting as efficient material for catalytic converters in cars,” according to scientists at the US Department of Energy‘s Brookhaven National Laboratory.

The uniquely structured gold-indium nanoparticles “combine high stability, great catalytic potential and a simple synthesis process, packing” a much more practical punch” than the shiny yellow bars under our central banks and the rings in our jewelry drawers.

Unlocking bullion’s more practical potential has until now required “complex synthesis techniques” that produce delicate, extremely heat-sensitive structures.

A new oxidation technique, which allows the breakdown of gold alloy at room temperature, has changed all this.

Read more here.

For a study of the oxidation technique, click here.