The News
- Researchers from Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research have developed a new type of gold microcystallites which are more stabler and nobler than gold.
Key Highlights
- The new type of gold was developed in the form of small crystals known as microcystallites.
- The microcystallite gold was found to be nobler than gold.
Key properties of Gold
The key properties of the gold include:
- Gold has a cubic lattice that renders stability to the metal.
- However when exposed to reagents such as aqua regia (nitric acid + hydrochloric acid), gold gets dissolved to form a salt solution.
- Further mercury blends with gold to form amalgam.
- Transition metals such as copper tend to interact with gold surfaces in electrochemical media during electroless plating.
How is Microcrystallite gold different?
- The microcystallites about 3 micrometre in length were found to be of deformed crystal structure, tetragonal and orthorhombic cells.
- It does not dissolve in mercury and Aqua regia (a mixture of nitric acid and hydrochloric acid),
- It showed the practically no interaction with copper during electroless plating.
Significance:
- The improved stability makes the gold microcrystallites an ideal candidate for catalytic purpose which was not the case with conventional gold.
- Gold is cheaper and thus can replace catalysts like palladium and ruthenium.
