Tiny gold particles can help harness energy from the sun to break down pollution

DIG DEEPER at Norwegian SciTech News:
norwegianscite...
Researchers at NTNU have found a way to make gold nanoparticles with a uniform size and shape, opening up the possibility of finding more effective photocatalysts.
When organic pollutants such as dyes, agricultural chemicals, and pharmaceuticals enter waterways all around the world, they can harm the environment and human health - and removing them can be incredibly difficult.
Photocatalysts - substances that absorb energy from light and use it to accelerate the rate of a chemical reaction - can decompose organic pollutants in a process called mineralization, converting them into water, carbon dioxide, and other harmless molecules. But there’s a catch: most photocatalysts require UV light to work, making them impractical and expensive to use at scale.
To solve that problem, researchers have their sights set on finding a photocatalyst that can harness much more of the solar spectrum. “If you can use solar light, it’s cheaper and much more available than UV light,” says Magnus Rønning, a professor in catalysis at the Department of Chemical Engineering, NTNU.
Nano-sized disks made of the mineral bismutite are a promising photocatalyst, and researchers have discovered that adding gold nanoparticles to their surface increases their sensitivity to the visible part of the solar spectrum. However, while there are several ways to deposit those gold nanoparticles on a surface, most methods give limited control over the size and shape of the particles you end up with.
DIG DEEPER at Norwegian SciTech News:
norwegianscite...