An 18-Carat Gold Nugget Made of Plastic
11th January 2020
The conventional mixture is usually three-quarters gold and one-quarter copper, with a density of about 15 g/cm3. That’s not true for this new lightweight gold: its density is just 1.7 g/cm3. And nonetheless it is still 18-carat gold. How was this miraculous lightness achieved? Instead of a metal alloy element, van ‘t Hag, Mezzenga and colleagues used protein fibres and a polymer latex to form a matrix in which they embedded thin discs of gold nanocrystals. In addition, the lightweight gold contains countless tiny air pockets invisible to the eye. The researchers’ study on this process has just been published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials.
Everythin’ goin’ be plastic bye and bye….