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Copper Turns into “Gold”

A few months ago, an article was released in Science Advances describing how Chinese researchers turned copper into “gold” by blasting it with hot, charged argon gas.

This blasting process knocks off the copper atoms, which are then collected as a very micronized copper sand that has very different properties. This modified copper dust is used as a catalyst to turn coal into alcohol.

While the copper did not actually turn into real gold, it has the same catalytic properties of precious metals such as silver and gold. It also resists oxidation and high temperatures.

The implications are potentially very large. Gold and silver are used in electronics, but of course is very expensive but if copper can be made to have catalytic or electrical properties that are similar to gold or silver, it could be a game-changer.

The full article is here: https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/2179209/chinese-scientists-turn-copper-gold

 

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Turning CO2 into Ethanol with Nanospikes

By using carbon particles embedded in nano carbon spikes, a complex chemical reaction is triggered when voltage is added that directly converts co2 in water into ethanol at a 63% efficiency.

This is not a technology that will “save the world” at this point, but it is the beginning of a new promising idea and we can’t wait to see where it will end up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8d2S6-caN3U

The full paper is published here: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/slct.201601169/full

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