For the first time, scientists have managed to create sheets of gold only a single atom layer thick. The material has been termed goldene. According to researchers from Linköping University, Sweden, this has given the gold new properties that can make it suitable for use in applications such as carbon dioxide conversion, hydrogen production, and production of value-added chemicals. Their findings are published in the journal Nature Synthesis.
(a, Schematic atomic positions corresponding to a square in b, and HR-STEM image of Ti3AuC2 along with [1120] orientation marked in b. Yellow, blue and black balls represent Au, Ti and C atoms, respectively. Scale bar, 5 Å. b, Cross-sectional HR-STEM image of Ti3AuC2, after etching by Murakami's reagent with CTAB, where the original Ti3AuC2 structure remains at the left side and goldene appears at the right side of the etching frontline. Scale bar, 5 nm. c, Zoomed-in partly twisted goldene after etching away Ti3C2 slabs marked in b. Scale bar, 2 nm. d, Schematic illustration of the preparation of goldene.)
A single atom layer of gold—researchers create goldene
For the first time, scientists have managed to create sheets of gold only a single atom layer thick. The material has been termed goldene. According to researchers from Linköping University, Sweden, this has given the gold new properties that can make it suitable for use in applications such as...
Study:
Synthesis of goldene comprising single-atom layer gold - Nature Synthesis
Atomically thin gold nanosheets are predicted to have interesting properties but their synthesis is challenging. Here the exfoliation of two-dimensional single-atom-thick gold, termed goldene, is achieved through wet-chemically etching Ti3C2 from Ti3AuC2. The synthesized goldene has promising...
www.nature.com
Abstract:
The synthesis of monolayer gold has so far been limited to free-standing several-atoms-thick layers, or monolayers confined on or inside templates. Here we report the exfoliation of single-atom-thick gold achieved through wet-chemically etching away Ti3C2 from nanolaminated Ti3AuC2, initially formed by substituting Si in Ti3SiC2 with Au. Ti3SiC2 is a renown MAX phase, where M is a transition metal, A is a group A element, and X is C or N. Our developed synthetic route is by a facile, scalable and hydrofluoric acid-free method. The two-dimensional layers are termed goldene. Goldene layers with roughly 9% lattice contraction compared to bulk gold are observed by electron microscopy. While ab initio molecular dynamics simulations show that two-dimensional goldene is inherently stable, experiments show some curling and agglomeration, which can be mitigated by surfactants. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy reveals an Au 4f binding energy increase of 0.88 eV. Prospects for preparing goldene from other non-van der Waals Au-intercalated phases, including developing etching schemes, are presented.
