Wednesday, 15th October 2008 (733 views)

A Canadian university has become one of the first in the world to receive a powerful new electron microscope that will allow academics to observe gold atoms in much finer detail than before.

McMaster University in Hamilton will use the device in order to help researchers develop better solar energy applications, efficient lighting and study drug-delivery methods to target cancers.

Gianluigi Botton, director of the Canadian Centre for Electron Microscopy, said that the institution is the first in the world to install a microscope "of such a high calibre".

He described it as "the equivalent of the Hubble telescope looking at the atomic level instead of at stars and galaxies."

Recent advances in gold nanotechnology include the creation of a miniscule gold 'crown', developed by Chinese researchers from the Universities of Beijing, Hong Kong and Nanjing.

Made up of a chain of gold nanoparticles, the ring-shaped structure could be significant for the invention of new functional materials.

 

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