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Thursday, 8th January 2009 (1700 views)

Gold nanotechnology has been around for thousands of years without people realising, it has been claimed.

Early examples of gold nanoparticles being used date back to Roman times, according to an article in the Lethbridge Herald.

Tiny flakes of the precious metal were used by Roman artisans to create drinking cups that could change colour, the paper noted.

It added that craftsmen also used miniscule amounts of gold to adorn stained-glass windows across the European continent.

Steve Patitsas from the University of Lethbridge told the news provider that nanotechnology is now being harnessed to improve applications in devices such as catalysts and transistors.

"There could also be many medical applications," he added.

Recently, a team from Queensland University of Technology found that stained-glass windows decorated with gold purified the air around them when lit up by sunlight.

Professor Zhu Huai Yong said that ancient craftsmen had unwittingly created a "photocatalytic air purifier with a nanostructured gold catalyst".

 

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