Researchers Create Gold Foam Almost As Light As Air

Scientists at ETH Zurich have created a new type of super light material, using gold. The 20 carat gold foam is almost as light as air.

The gold nuggets 3D mesh consists primarily of pores, at 98% air. It is the lightest gold-nugget ever created.

“The so-called aerogel is a thousand times lighter than conventional gold alloys. It is lighter than water and almost as light as air,” says Raffaele Mezzenga, Professor of Food and Soft Materials

You can barely tell the difference between this material and regular gold with the naked eye, however it is shapeable by hand.

The scientists created the porous material by first heating milk proteins to produce nanometre-fine protein fibres, so-called amyloid fibrils, which they then placed in a solution of gold salt. The protein fibres interlaced themselves into a basic structure along which the gold simultaneously crystallised into small particles. This resulted in a gel-like gold fibre network.

“One of the big challenges was how to dry this fine network without destroying it,” explains Gustav Nyström, postdoc in Mezzenga’s group and first author of the corresponding study in the journal Advanced Materials. As air drying could damage the fine gold structure, the scientists opted for a gentle and laborious drying process using carbon dioxide. They did so in an interdisciplinary effort assisted by researchers in the group of Marco Mazzotti, Professor of Process Engineering.

So what can it be used for? Tons of things it seems. Due to it’s lightweight, malable and porous properties it can be used among other things in watches, jewlery and electronics. Chemical reactions using gold can be sped up significantly. It can also be used to manufacture pressure sensors. However I believe more applications will surface.

“At normal atmospheric pressure the individual gold particles in the material do not touch, and the gold aerogel does not conduct electricity,” explains Mezzenga. “But when the pressure is increased, the material gets compressed and the particles begin to touch, making the material conductive.”

This is probably the most fascinating version of aerogel yet, with it’s semiconductive properties.

Journal reference: Advanced Materials

Provided by: ETH Zurich