Scientists at the University of Leeds in England created the
thinnest gold nanomaterial yet, just two atoms thick.
The newly-developed substance stacks up to a mere .47-nanometers, which is one
million times thinner than a human fingernail and one-fifth as thin as the
diameter of a strand of human DNA, according to a paper published Tuesday in
the journal Advanced Science.
To create the gold nanosheets, the researchers combined gold with two
acids—chloroauric acid (which is widely used in gold refining processes) and
sodium citrate—in a methyl orange solution. After letting the mixture sit for
12 hours, they centrifuged it, then washed the resulting pellet, made up of
layers of extremely thin 2D sheets, with ultrapure water.
Read more about the gold nanosheets on the Popular Science website HERE
