Archive for September, 2009
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September 30th, 2009
Nanotech Europe 2009 highlights
I have been enjoying the diverse range of science on offer at this years Nanotech Europe meeting in Berlin. What has impressed me most has been the focus on identifying routes to bring these exciting technologies out of the labs and into the marketplace. Various companies are well represented here, with delegates from Solvay (pharma/chemical), Proctor & Gamble (consumer goods) & Daimler (automotive) all in attendance, and in some cases presenting their companies interests and investments in nanotechnology.
There has been plenty of gold-related research presented both in the poster and oral sessions. Dr Hainer Wackerbarth outlined his companies (the Laser-Laboratorium, Gottingen) efforts in using SERS to detect explosives and pyrolytic products. There was also an excellent poster presented by Magda Blosi from the Institute of Science and Technology for Ceramics, Italy. Her work focused on the development of a simple, environmentally-friendly route to synthesise noble metal nanoparticles using microwave technology. Indeed a commercial-scale process is currently being developed by a partner company on the back of her studies.
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September 29th, 2009
Gold Bulletin – Advance Online Publication?
The Gold Bulletin Editorial Team is considering introducing an advance online publication process for the journal. This would allow papers to appear on the journal’s website before they have a formal issue/page number. Many journals already operate this system including Nature. We would welcome your views on this potential development.
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September 28th, 2009
Flashback – gold electroforming
This month’s Chemistry World, the publication of the Royal Society of Chemistry, has an interesting regular feature ‘Flashback’, that looks at what the chemistry world was talking about decades previously. September’s issue looks at the gold crown worn by the Prince of Wales at his investiture on 1st July 1969. The article explains how the crown was, at the time, the largest gold electroform on record. It was made in the laboratory of Engelhard Industries after the design had been presented to BJS Electroplating Company.
Electroforming remains a widely used process for making both decorative and technical parts in gold, whilst minimising weight and cost associated with solid gold pieces.
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September 25th, 2009
Measuring mercury with gold
The guys at AZoNanotechnology have recently published a series of thought-leadership articles from leading nanotechnology experts around the world. All of these articles are well worth a read if you get the chance, but one in particular caught my eye…
Professor Suresh Bhargava, Dean of the School of Applied Sciences at RMIT University and leader of the Industrial Chemistry Group, has written a piece on the use of nanotechnology to measure mercury. The World Gold Council is heavily involved in this area, and have recently announced funding of a project in collaboration with Chris Hardacre at the University of Belfast (see a previous blog from Richard on the announcement here). It seems that Professor Bhargava and his team have developed a gold nanoparticle-based sensor, allowing the accurate measurement of mercury. This technology is now being further developed with industrial partners for pilot plant trials…Part of this work has been published in the journal Sensors and Actuators B.
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September 24th, 2009
Nanotech Europe 2009
I’m really looking forward to attending the Nanotech Europe 2009 meeting in Berlin next week. The meeting, which is Europe’s largest annual nanotech conference and exhibition, lasts for 3 days and focuses on both grass-roots research and bringing nanotechnology-based technologies to market. There are hundreds of presentations being delivered by both leading academics and industrialists from blue chip companies such as Nokia, Bayer and ThermoFisher.
If anyone reading this is attending and wants to meet to discuss WGC’s support of nanotechnology-related technologies feel free to drop me a line.
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September 23rd, 2009
Lead-free packaging with gold inks?
This open access paper published in the Journal of Electronic Materials investigated gold nanoparticle inks as potential candidates for lead-free packaging applications. The main advantage of the inks are the very low melting points, good conductivity compared to eutectic solders and excellent thermal stability/electromigration resistance. -
September 22nd, 2009
Nanostellar wins award
Using their usual criteria judges have been looking at hundreds of companies for the annual GoingGreen 100awards which lists the best emerging greentech companies in categories including Clean Energy, Energy Management, Green Automobiles and Transportation, Green Materials, Green Buildings & Green Nano/Micro-Tech. The awards assess the breakthrough potential of their technologies, market size, impact, etc.
Nanostellar, developer of the NS Gold diesel oxidation catalyst, were one of the winners in this year’s Green Materials category.
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September 21st, 2009
The use of gold for fabrication of nanowire structures
A few weeks ago I mentioned IBM were growing silicon nanowires using gold nanoparticles. An excellent review of why gold is by far the most widely used seed particle material for growth of semiconductor nanowires has just been published by a team from Lund University (Maria E Messing, Karla Hillerich, Jonas Johansson, Knut Deppert and Kimberly A Dick) in Gold Bulletin.
The review explains that although a couple of other materials have been reported to successfully initiate growth of nanowires, gold is the most universal particle material, capable of seeding a variety of different types of nanowires at a wide range of growth conditions. In the review the group identified and described the production and deposition methods of different types of gold particles used for nanowire growth including:
gold particles made from thin films
aerosol-generated gold particles
gold particles made by lithographic methods
and colloidal gold particles.
They also discussed the different advantages and disadvantages of each particle type if the nanowires are to be used for large scale production of semiconductor devices and perhaps most importantly, the fundamental reason for gold being superior to other materials for initiating growth of nanowires. Their conclusion? The ability of gold to easily form alloys with the growth precursors, its inertness to oxygen and the high diffusivities through gold are all important and added together are what make gold such a suitable material for nanowire seed particles.
Schematic demonstrating particle-assisted nanowire growth. (a) The seed particles are formed/deposited on the substrate and (b) by heating the substrate to a desired temperature and introducing growth materials an alloy is formed. (c) When a supersaturation of the alloy particle with growth material is achieved, nucleation occurs at the particle-substrate interface. (d) Nanowire growth occurs at the particle-wire interface as long as growth material is provided. (e) By switching to growth conditions favoring planar growth radial heterostructures, known as core-shell nanowires, can be grown. (f) Nanowires containing axial heterostructures with very sharp interfaces can be formed by switching between different growth materials. (g) If a second generation of gold particles is deposited onto the as-grown nanowires and (h) the growth process is repeated, branched nanowires for formation of nanowire networks can be grown.Copyright: Gold Bulletin
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September 18th, 2009
Gold Bulletin 42(3). Available now !!!!!
Hi everyone. What a great couple of months we have had in the Gold community. A fantastic Gold 2009, conference in Heidelberg with lots of stimultaing papers and posters and whats even more important lots of science being disscussed over a few beers!
To continue the good few months you can now access the new issue of Gold Bulletin 42(3). Whats in it ? I hear you say. Well we have an editorial by our new Editor. Although he is obviously not new to the Gold Council and Gold Bulletin I am sure he will make a his own mark and style on the future issues of GB.
We have 7 exciting scientific papers covering differing aspects of nanoparticles, nanowires, thin films, metallurgy and nanosphere synthesis. We also have a review of the new Book “Gold Chemistry: Applications and future directions in the life sciences.”. There are two conference reports from the 23rd Santa Fe Symposium on jewelry Manufacturing Technology and also on The Fourth Taylor Conference on new work on gold catalyst. We also have a summary of Gold 2009 in Heidelberg and of couse our every popular section on Highlights from the recent literature.
Go on have a look and let me know what you think !!!!!
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September 18th, 2009
Review of Gold Chemistry Book
Earlier this year there was a post about the book Gold Chemistry: Applications and Future Directions in the Life Sciences, Fabian Mohr (Editor). This book has just been reviewed by the Journal of Nanophotonics here…
Trevor Keel
Richard Holliday
Tricia Harris
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