Scientists developed a sheet of gold that’s just one atom thick
It’s unclear what, if any, exotic properties goldene has
By Skyler Ware
Meet graphene’s newest metallic cousin, goldene. For the first time, researchers have created a free-standing sheet of gold that’s just one atom thick.
The development, reported in the April 16 Nature Synthesis, could someday allow scientists to use less gold in electronics and chemical reactions, says materials physicist Lars Hultman of Linköping University in Sweden. The gold sheet may also exhibit exotic properties like those found in other two-dimensional materials (SN: 10/2/19).
Goldene holds promise as “a great catalyst because it’s much more economically viable” than thicker, three-dimensional gold, Hultman says. “You don’t need as many gold atoms to get the same function.”