Is single atom thick gold somewhat optically transparent?
Definitely yes. Gold is surprisingly transparent for a metal. Famously, gold plating is used on astronaut helmet visors, at 200 nm thickness - i.e. ~1200 atoms thick.
Goldene: A single atom layer of gold
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Re: Goldene: A single atom layer of gold
#32Here we go again... Another nobel prize, another decade of impotent battery news, and countless superconductivity false starts.
Did you even read the article? It doesn't even have superconductor properties. It's classed as a semiconductor with 2 free sites.
Re: Goldene: A single atom layer of gold
#33Re: Goldene: A single atom layer of gold
#34Re: Goldene: A single atom layer of gold
#35Is single atom thick gold somewhat optically transparent?
I mean, matter is mostly empty space…
Re: Goldene: A single atom layer of gold
#36Wish 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…
It's not going up in value, it's going up in price.
Re: Goldene: A single atom layer of gold
#37[flagged]
Re: Goldene: A single atom layer of gold
#38[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
That side on view is wild and I didn’t know that the resolutions of electron microscopes had gotten that good where you can make out individual atoms. Insane.
Re: Goldene: A single atom layer of gold
#39You can get these in resin jewelry making kits. The gold leaf in those is super thin!
Not this thin, unless Chinese manufacturing has made heretofore unknown advances in materials science.
You jest, but I wouldn't put it past cheap Chinese manufacturing to somehow do this at some point in the next 100 years. "How did you invent a room temperature supraconductor? -we thought it would save us $0.00001 per part"
Re: Goldene: A single atom layer of gold
#40[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...
Small correction: Scanning tunneling microscopes can do that. They are basically a very sharp tip scanned across the surface.
Scanning electron microscopes, where a beam of electrons is rastered across the surface can not (yet?) resolve atoms.