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Goldene: A single atom layer of gold

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Re: Goldene: A single atom layer of gold

#11

Wish the Anunnaki just left notes on how they did it. Joking aside, suddenly gold is all over the news, e.g.: "Composite material adorned with gold nanoparticles improves infectious disease testing"* Gold is also going up in value due to global instability. What I am really getting at is - are there any "actual" applications at this time? Also, if anyone feels like summarizing what I could google - did graphene ever…

> What I am really getting at is - are there any "actual" applications at this time?

Of course not, they literally just figured out how to make it in a lab through what sounds like a very labor intensive process. They haven't (presumably) figured out how to mass manufacture it. They've probably just begun to characterize it's actual properties. Engineers haven't had their hands on it at all yet.

It's a very cool advance in science IMO! It's not a "product" and won't be for awhile. That's normal. Science isn't about making products.

Re: Goldene: A single atom layer of gold

#14

[flagged]

Scanning electronic microscopes can see and/or manipulate individual atoms. So, the answer to your question is simple: they took a look from the side and confirmed that it's 1 atom thick.

1. https://education.mrsec.wisc.edu/scanning-tunneling-microsco...

Re: Goldene: A single atom layer of gold

#15

[flagged]

Electron microscopes are capable of resolving details that small.

Here's a side-on view of what they did. You can see the individual gold atoms.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s44160-024-00518-4/figures/1

And here's a top down view

https://www.nature.com/articles/s44160-024-00518-4/figures/2

Both of these are from the paper describing their process and results

https://www.nature.com/articles/s44160-024-00518-4

Re: Goldene: A single atom layer of gold

#16

You can get these in resin jewelry making kits. The gold leaf in those is super thin!

If you can see or handle it, it's not a single atom thick.

Graphene is definitely observable every time you use a pencil.

It will mostly be graphite, but parts are graphene as well. And if that isn't enough, the tape method of producing graphene also makes a visible layer.

Re: Goldene: A single atom layer of gold

#18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you can see or handle it, it's not a single atom thick.

Graphene is definitely observable every time you use a pencil. It will mostly be graphite, but parts are graphene as well. And if that isn't enough, the tape method of producing graphene also makes a visible layer.

I doubt you're ever seeing a single layer from a pencil.

"Although graphene is probably produced every time one uses a pencil, it is extremely difficult to find small graphene crystallites in the “haystack” of millions of thicker graphitic flakes which appear during the cleavage. In fact, no modern visualization technique including atomic-force, scanning- tunneling, and electron microscopies is capable of finding graphene because of their extremely low throughput at the required atomic resolution or the absence of clear signatures distinguishing atomic monolayers from thicker flakes." -- Making Graphene Visible https://www.physics.purdue.edu/quantum/files/CarbonNano/make..., which shows it can be made visible by preparing it on an appropriate substrate.

More here, where the answer is both "no", and "yes, if it's big enough": https://www.quora.com/unanswered/Is-graphene-visible-to-the-...

Re: Goldene: A single atom layer of gold

#19
post #11

Wish the Anunnaki just left notes on how they did it. Joking aside, suddenly gold is all over the news, e.g.: "Composite material adorned with gold nanoparticles improves infectious disease testing"* Gold is also going up in value due to global instability. What I am really getting at is - are there any "actual" applications at this time? Also, if anyone feels like summarizing what I could google - did graphene ever…

> What I am really getting at is - are there any "actual" applications at this time? Of course not, they literally just figured out how to make it in a lab through what sounds like a very labor intensive process. They haven't (presumably) figured out how to mass manufacture it. They've probably just begun to characterize it's actual properties. Engineers haven't had their hands on it at all yet. It's a very cool adva…

Science drives products, though. Very few people would be interested in a square inch of refined sand flipping electric charges between positive and negative, if it didn’t result in a yellow circular man eating dots and chasing ghosts.

Graphene shows some interesting properties, perhaps less widely marketable than video games, but time will tell. We’re still before the 8086 on that time scale.

For single atom thick gold? I dare not even speculate.

Though gold grabs extra attention due to its financial role, its over hyped in this particular regard. It doesn’t degrade and the global reserves can easily absorb some scientific research. All discussions of inflation and / or monetary value tossed completely aside

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