If scientists knew more about how chemicals combine with each other, not only would they have greater control over chemical reactions; they would be able to produce chemical reactions never before possible.
According to the Silver Institute, researchers at Cornell University have shed new light on chemical bonding by combining a single molecule with a single atom. Silver played a vital role.
Researchers at the university used a specially designed, scanning tunneling microscope to verify that they had produced a lone molecule. They used the STM to manipulate atoms of iron and molecules of carbon monoxide that bonded on a silver surface in a vacuum.
Silver’s unique properties make it ideal for this research. Said one of the scientists: “Silver is relatively inert, so it becomes possible to form new materials that arise from the intermolecular reactions of individual molecules.”
The research could lead to advances in catalytic converters and electronics.
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