Turn copper into a material that closely resembles gold

A group of scientists at the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Liaoning, recently successfully converted cheap copper metal into a new material, almost like gold. . This study is published in Science Advances magazine.

This is a breakthrough invention that helps reduce production costs in factories. Because new materials converted from cheap copper promises to help replace precious and expensive metals in manufacturing plants.

Turn copper into a material that closely resembles gold Picture 1

To create a new material, Professor Sun Jian and colleagues fired hot and charged argon beams into copper.

Copper atoms are knocked out of the material by fast-moving ionizing particles. A collected device will be used to gather those atoms. After they cool, create a thin layer of sand. Each grain of sand has a very small size, only a few nanometers, which is one-thousandth the size of bacteria.

The material is then placed in the reaction chamber and used by the researchers as a catalyst for the process of turning coal into alcohol, a complex process that can only be effectively processed when precious metals are used. catalysis.

Professor Sun said the copper nanoparticles were created after processing copper metal to achieve extremely catalytic performance similar to gold and silver.

Centuries ago, alchemists have worked out how to turn copper into gold, because copper has weight and looks very similar to gold.

Turn copper into a material that closely resembles gold Picture 2
The electron density of copper.

Turn copper into a material that closely resembles gold Picture 3
The electron density of gold.

Research by Professor Sun Jian's team cannot turn copper into valuable gold blocks because new materials with molecular density remain the same as regular copper.

The electrons in copper are less than gold and relatively unstable so copper cannot replace gold in industries.

The method of Professor Sun Jian's team can pump copper atoms with a large amount of energy, making the electrons denser and more stable. This gives new materials the ability to resist high temperatures, oxidation and corrosion as well as gold.

Therefore, this new material can replace gold to save costs in production processes.

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