The World Gold Council has released a report entitled ‘Gold for good – gold and nanotechnology in the age of innovation’, aiming to demonstrate how gold nanoparticles offer the potential to overcome many of the serious issues facing mankind over the coming decades.

According to the report’s executive summary, ‘gold is at the very core of many scientific and commercial breakthroughs in nanotechnology which are having a positive impact on lives around the world. This paper serves to illustrate both the progress to date and the bright future of gold nanotechnology in a range of vital fields.’

In an accompanying press release, Trevor Keel, Nanotechnology Project Manager at World Gold Council said: ‘The opportunities and possibilities identified in this report are just a subset of the amazing scope to use gold in the era of nanotechnology. As a readily available and well understood material, gold nanoparticles are ideal for use in a vast array of applications that improve our lives. WGC is looking to promote and invest in the development of gold-based innovations through Innovations Partnerships, so that the full benefits of gold nanotechnology can be realised.’

The report highlights the use on nano-gold in the following applications:

• Health: Gold has a long history in the biomedical field stretching back almost five thousand years. However the dawn of the ‘nano-age’ has really broadened the potential of gold in biomedical applications and today, gold nanoparticles are being employed in entirely novel ways to achieve therapeutic effects. [...]. Uses include: tumour targeting technologies, and cost effective and sensitive diagnostic tests.
•  Environment: [...] Gold nano-particle based technologies are showing great promise in providing solutions to a number of environmentally important issues from greener production methods of the chemical feedstocks, to pollution control and water purification. [...]. Uses include: Gold-based catalyst, and cost effective and efficient fuel cells.
• Advanced technology:Gold is already a well established material in the electronics industry and the use of gold can only increase as the worlds of electronics and nanotechnology interact further in the future. [...]. Uses include: conductive nanoparticle inks for plastic electronics, visual display technologies, and advanced data storage technologies including advanced flash memory devices.

Follow these links to find out more about the World Gold Council’s activities in nanotechnology, to read the full press release, or to download the full report.