What characteristics make gold an ideal material for such wide-ranging applications? The nobility of gold and its resistance to surface oxidation (which would hinder the operation of nano-scale technologies and devices based on other metals) is one important material characteristic. The optical properties of gold at the nanoscale are also exciting, (gold nanoparticles have a colour varying from red to purple depending on particle size, a property that can be successfully exploited in a range of applications).

 

Use of gold nanoparticles improves the drug delivery efficiency of this anticancer drug
(Credit – Eugen Zubarev/Rice University)

 

Additionally, gold nanoparticles are now known to be catalytically active for a range of commercially important reactions and they also have a surface chemistry particularly suited to the attachment of sulphur-containing molecules, such as thiols, which permits the ‘bottom-up’ assembly of interesting and useful structures.

 

Based on these unique properties, exciting new nanotechnology applications using gold are being developed. These include:

• Low resistance printable gold nanoparticulate inks for flexible electronics • Gold nanowires for interconnections in future electronic devices • Nanoparticulate gold colloid for rapid tests and biomedical assays • Gold nanoparticles used for targeted delivery of anticancer drugs and destruction of cancer cells • Improved decorative coatings using thiol stabilised gold nanoparticles • Gold nanoparticle containing paints and textiles exhibiting novel aesthetic effects • Nanoparticulate gold catalysts for pollution control and chemical synthesis • Fuel cell electrocatalysts based on carbon supported nanoparticulate gold		Use of gold inks to ink-jet ultra high resolution images (Credit – IBM Zurich Research Laboratory)
Use of gold nanoparticles to colour merino wool (Credit – University of Victoria, New Zealand)		For the very latest information on gold-related nanotechnology read the latest issue of NanoTech Gold News   Visit the site of this French research network focused on multi-disciplinary investigations into gold nanotechnology