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Scientists
at the University of Birmingham have developed a method to visualize
gold on the nanoscale by using a special probe beam to image 20 atoms of
gold bound together to make a cluster. The research is published this
week in the Royal Society of Chemistry’s journal Nanoscale.
Physicists
have theorized for many years how atoms of gold and other elements
would be arranged and ten years ago the structure of a 20-atom
tetrahedral pyramid was proposed by scientists in the United States.
University of Birmingham, U.K., physicists can now reveal this atomic
arrangement for the first time by imaging the cluster with an electron
microscope.
Gold
is a noble metal which is unreactive and thus resistant to
contamination in our every day experience, but at the smallest, nano
scale it becomes highly active chemically and can be used as a catalyst
for controlling chemical reactions.
Clusters
of metal atoms are used in catalysis in various industries including
oil refining, the food industry, fine chemicals, perfumery and
pharmaceuticals as well as in fuel cells for clean power systems for
cars.
Richard
Palmer, the University of Birmingham’s Professor of Experimental
Physics, Head of the Nanoscale Physics Research Laboratory, and lead
investigator, said: ‘We
are working to drive up the rate of production of these very precisely
defined nano-objects to supply to companies for applications such as
catalysis. Selective processes generate less waste and avoid harmful
biproducts—this is green chemistry using gold.’
Source: University of Birmingham
