When aluminum outshines gold
Two Rice University studies detail aluminum’s valuable
plasmonic properties
Humble aluminum’s plasmonic properties may make it far more
valuable than gold and silver for certain applications, according to new
research by Rice University scientists.
Because aluminum, as nanoparticles or nanostructures,
displays optical resonances across a much broader region of the spectrum than
either gold or silver, it may be a good candidate for harvesting solar energy
and for other large-area optical devices and materials that would be too
expensive to produce with noble or coinage metals.