These nanostructured metal powders (in some cases they may even be alloys) are typically reduced to their particle size using metal salts or some type of corrosive alcohol.

Copper nanoparticles constitute some of the most versatile and useful metal nanoparticles currently in production.

In electronics manufacturing it has been found that thin films of extra-small copper particles exhibit a peculiarly strong electrocatalytic behavior, making them prime candidates for many types of electric processes.

Researchers at Yangzhou University in China conducted a series of experiments involving copper nanoparticles which they stabilized with cysteine and used the resulting mixture to coat individual electrodes of indium tin oxide.

Once the electrodes have been altered in this way, they are more capable of transferring electrons back and forth to establish an electrical current. They also respond efficiently to the effects of nitric oxide and other nitrate derivatives, which makes them useful electrochemical sensors.

What does all of this mean? In March of 2009 the University of Helsinki decided to find out what could be achieved by utilizing the conductive properties of copper particles. The University’s Polymer Chemistry Research Group found that the fundamental properties of the copper changed dramatically when they were reduced to a billionth of their original size.

The tiny copper nanoparticles have more atoms on their surface than on the inside, which causes a variety of characteristics but most importantly makes their melting temperature very low. Researchers then applied a heat treatment known as “sintering” and found that afterwards, the copper particles could be used to create patterns and layers of an electricity-conducting nature. They decided to apply these interesting designs to paper.

It seems that many types of metal particles can achieve these results when coated with a polymer layer, turning them into excellent electrical conductors. Scientists can design intelligent formations and print them onto the paper in such a way that they anticipate using paper instead of expensive silicon boards and chips in the not-too-distant future.

The Polymer Chemistry Research Group didn’t necessarily intend to make such a discovery in their work with copper nanoparticles. They were actually conducting a routine test of various compounds that could protect copper nanoparticles during the manufacturing process and had decided to try out polymers and compounds made of smaller molecules.

They rotated through several combinations before settling on polyethylene imine and tetraethylenepentamine as good candidates. Sure enough, these polymer layers contained the right level of oxidization to be effectively sintered to the surface of the paper.

Researchers then measured the electrical conductivity of the recently-applied particle layer and were both pleased and surprised to find that at a certain temperature they could cause rapid re-growth of the particles.

These properties turned the nanoparticles into ideal conductors of electricity and gave researchers a brilliant idea. Their findings may have revolutionized the world of electronics by providing paper as a cheaper, more malleable substance on which to imprint electronic code. Soon, microchips will be flexible and inexpensive, as will motherboards.

Metal nanoparticles have served a variety of functions over time, but gold nanoparticles are some of the most popular. They are non-toxic and appear to have endless medical applications; it has also been found that ingesting liquid gold nanoparticles has extremely beneficial effects on human health.

But gold nanoparticles can be costly, and scientists are looking for ways to replace these expensive nanoparticles with others that behave just as well. Copper nanoparticles are now thought to be the best substitute for the process that allows fuel cells to last longer and perform better.

The U.S. Department of Energy sponsors an institute known as the Brookhaven National Laboratory, which has been conducting a series of x-ray experiments using copper nanoparticles as a replacement catalyst for gold nanoparticles in a fuel cell reaction sequence.

Traditionally the problem posed by fuel cells has been their harmful byproducts, since the main source of energy for these cells is hydrogen. Hydrogen makes a wonderful “food” for the fuel cell but its byproduct often contains large amounts of poisonous carbon monoxide.

Not only is this dangerous to humans and their environment, it’s also bad for the fuel cell mechanisms themselves. The carbon monoxide circulates within the fuel cell until, over time, it has corroded and destroyed the costly platinum catalysts inside the fuel cell that allow it to convert hydrogen into a usable form of electricity.

Scientists anticipate that by mixing the carbon monoxide byproduct with water, they can effect a chemical transformation that will produce relatively harmless amounts of hydrogen gas as well as carbon dioxide, this reaction is known as a “water-gas shift.” It does an extremely effective job of turning almost all the deadly CO into carbon dioxide and hydrogen.

What the Brookhaven Laboratory researchers wanted to do was to find a different way to create and sustain this process within the fuel cell. They found that by using a metal support coated with either gold or copper nanoparticles, they could achieve transformation without the cumbersome and difficult task of directly applying water to the cell while it functioned.

They were even able to maximize catalytic efficiency further by using tiny nanoparticles less than 4 nanometers wide and applying them to a support base made of a metal called cerium oxide, otherwise known as ceria.

As it turns out, copper nanoparticles react wonderfully with ceria and can achieve even higher levels of catalytic activity in this process. Gold was traditionally used because its reliable tendency for reactivity made it a solid choice, but despite the well-documented effects of gold nanoparticles, researchers were put off by its large price tag.

It took quite a bit of experimentation and the Brookhaven Laboratory scientists ran through a number of methods (spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction, absorption) before finally hitting on the thing that worked: nanotechnology. Copper performs at nearly the same level as gold and is much more cost-effective.

Back from Metal Nanoparticles to Nanogloss.com – Home

Tiny molecular particles of gold are suspended in a fluid (usually water) and if the gold particles are extremely small, the liquid appears to be an intense shade of red. If the particles are on the larger size, the liquid will be a dirty yellow color.

When gold is broken into nanoparticles it can break many different ways, depending on the process. Researchers have found particles in an assortment of shapes including rods, cubes, cap-shaped pieces, and spheres.

Nanotechnology is fairly new to our civilization, but it turns out that colloidal gold has been around since ancient times—and it was originally used to stain glass. It was rediscovered by Michael Faraday in the 1850s and almost immediately became one of science’s favorite substances.

Gold nanoparticles are highly useful for a wide range of processes including general nanotechnology, electronics manufacturing, and the synthesizing of rare materials.

In 2005 it was discovered that coating bacteria with nano-gold renders it extremely useful as a coating for electronic wiring. The bacteria carry a negative charge and the nano-gold carries a positive charge after being treated with nitric acid.

These coated bacteria are able to absorb water and conduct a more efficient electrical current after the gold has been introduced, making them more efficient and more cost-effective elements of electronic production.

Colloidal gold is also extremely useful in the medical field. Medical personnel are still investigating the possibilities for silver nanoparticles, but lab technicians have found that injecting gold nanoparticles into rats can relieve many symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis.

Similarly, they also found that if they implanted gold beads near arthritic joints in dogs, the gold beads acted as pain relievers and enabled the dogs’ joints to function almost normally. Since current arthritis medication is often woefully ineffective, this research is a big step forward–and as odd as it sounds, the day may soon come when general arthritis treatments will involve injecting gold particles into humans.

Gold nanoparticles may also provide the cure for Alzheimer’s. This terrible disease ravages the human brain with a buildup of plaque and betay-amyloid fibrils which affect our motor skills and memory functions, among others. Scientists have discovered that a combination of colloidal gold and microwave radiation can destroy these harmful plaques and fibrils, allowing the brain to heal itself and resume normal functions.

Investigations are also underway to determine whether conventional radiation therapy might not be improved and rendered less traumatic with the addition of nano-gold. But perhaps the most groundbreaking application of all lies in cancer treatment. Colloidal gold has been used in conjunction with intravenous spectroscopy to both identify and target malignant tumors in the human body.

The gold nanoparticles are introduced into the veins and guided by a spectroscope to locate problem tumors; they are then injected into the tumor along with an antibody to stop the tumor’s ability to grow and, in some cases, shrink its size.

In many cases medical scientists favor rod-shaped gold particles because they reflect infrared light more efficiently and their size allows them to circulate inside the bloodstream more easily. The shape of a gold nano-rod also lends itself well to the task of piercing a tumor’s mass.

The miraculous qualities of nano-gold were understood in a different way by the ancients, who devoted massive amounts of time and energy to alchemy and labeled a primitive form of colloidal gold the “Elixir of Life.” Many alchemists studied and searched their whole lives to find a means of creating a potion made from liquefied gold, believing that it would cure all sorts of bodily ailments and strengthen mental and physical capabilities.

There are many extant writings discussing the Elixir of Life, but it is not clear whether the formula was ever discovered. (However, a 16^th-century alchemist named Paracelsus ultimately claimed that he had created the elusive potion.) Scientists knew that it could be done, since the ancient Romans had used colloidal gold in various concentrations to create stained glass.

The Romans found that they could get several colors out of the same gold particles simply by adding water and diluting the potion. They achieved stunning shades of yellow, red, and even mauve through this method.

Modern medicine considers gold nanoparticles capable of creating works of art in many other ways. Using nano-gold’s incredible ability to detect the exact location of cancer cells, researchers hope to have an effective cancer-fighting system in place by 2011.

They anticipate using microscopic nano-gold vessels to carry antidotes to the exact location of the cancerous growth, rather than inundating a patient’s sytem with high levels of toxic chemotherapy chemicals. Instead, it might be possible to target and kill the tumor on the spot by weakening it with gold nano-rods and then inject an ultimate cancer cure to kill off the dangerous cells completely.

The only remaining piece of the cancer-cure puzzle would then lie in finding such an ultimate cure for cancer itself, and scientists think they may have found that, too. The dye that is used to color your jeans and the ink in your ballpoint pen has the potential to team up with gold nanoparticles and kill cancer stone-dead.

This deep blue dye is pthalocyanine and it reacts with light in such a way that scientists can activate and deactivate them using simple, harmless light sources. Pthalocyanine is so responsive that they can even do this once the dye particles are deep inside your body at the location of a cancerous cell.

Up to this point, scientists were not sure how to get the dye inside a human body; every chemical vehicle they tried would predictably reject the dye cells.

But after extensive research, scientists have discovered that modified gold nanoparticles will transport pthalocyanine without any problems and, due to its cancer-seeking characteristics, the nano-gold actually plays an active part in the process. Strangely enough, you may find that a combination of blue jean dye and molecular gold will save your life someday.

Back from Gold Nanoparticles to Nanogloss.com – Home