Gold (Au) - Insulated Wire, Mesh, Single Crystal & Sphere - Material Information

Gold (Au) is a noble metal renowned for its exceptional electrical conductivity, chemical inertness, and optical brilliance. With its distinctive yellow luster and excellent resistance to oxidation, gold has been indispensable for electronics, optics, and jewelry for centuries, while continuing to enable cutting-edge applications in nanotechnology and medicine.

Material Overview

Gold crystallizes in a face-centered cubic (FCC) structure, yielding a high ductility and malleability that allows it to be drawn into fine wires or rolled into ultra-thin foils. Its density is 19.32 g/cm³, and it has a melting point of 1064 °C. The metal’s electrical resistivity is among the lowest of all elements (~2.44×10?? ?·m at 20 °C), and it maintains high reflectivity across the visible and infrared spectra (Hodgson, 1968). Thin gold films display complex optical behavior near the percolation threshold, showing changes in conductivity and transparency depending on film thickness and surface morphology (Le?ko & Hrach, 1994). At the nanoscale, gold’s free electrons exhibit collective oscillations known as surface plasmon resonance, giving rise to vivid optical effects and tunable color phenomena (Yang et al., 2016).

Applications and Advantages

Gold’s combination of conductivity, corrosion resistance, and workability makes it essential in high-reliability electrical connectors, integrated circuits, and precision resistors. In aerospace and medical electronics, gold’s immunity to tarnish ensures consistent performance under extreme conditions. Optical and nanostructured gold materials are utilized for photothermal therapy, catalysis, and biosensing. Research shows that alloying gold with lithium and osmium enhances mechanical strength and corrosion resistance without significantly reducing electrical performance (Yang, 2018). Meanwhile, Au–CrN multilayers are used in microelectronics for improved adhesion and wear protection (Kolawa et al., 1994). Gold’s biocompatibility, combined with its stable surface chemistry, continues to drive innovations in implant coatings and nanoparticle-based drug delivery systems.

Goodfellow Availability

Goodfellow offers gold (Au) in a wide variety of forms, including insulated wire, mesh, spheres, and single crystals. All materials are supplied in high-purity grades for research, electronic, and optical applications. Custom dimensions and specialized purity options are available on request to meet demanding experimental or manufacturing needs.

Explore Gold (Au) - Insulated Wire, Mesh, Single Crystal & Sphere and other advanced materials in Goodfellow’s online catalogue: Goodfellow product finder.

References

• Hodgson, J. N. (1968). The optical properties of gold. *Journal of Physics and Chemistry of Solids*, 29(12), 2499–2508. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-3697(68)90013-9
• Le?ko, L., & Hrach, R. (1994). Electrical and optical properties of very thin gold films. *International Journal of Electronics*, 77(6), 1051–1062. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207219408926122
• Yang, G., Hu, L., Keiper, T., Xiong, P., & Hallinan, D. T. (2016). Gold nanoparticle monolayers with tunable optical and electrical properties. *Langmuir*, 32(16), 3989–3996. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.langmuir.6b00347
• Yang, C. (2018). Corrosion-resistance Au–Li–Os gold lithium alloy for electric contact material. *Chinese Patent CN108182945A.*
• Kolawa, E., Lie, D., Reid, J., Tai, B., Lowry, L., & Scott-Monck, J. (1994). The properties of CrN/Au and Cr/CrN/Au multilayers. *Thin Film Research Proceedings.*