Gold Can Be Magnetic on the Nanoscale
March 4, 2008 | Source: KurzweilAI
Georgia Institute of Technology physicists have announced discoveries about gold’s nanoscale properties: electric fields can change the shape of gold nanoclusters from pyramidal to flat, gold can be made magnetic, and oxygenated gold nanowires switch from being conductors to insulators when longer than 6 gold atoms in length.
This marks the first time on the nanoscale that such a metal-to-insulation transition has been found.
The results could result in new methods for controlling the behavior of nanostructures through the application of external electric fields.