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Graphene Recovers Gold Without the Risks of Mercury, Promises to Revolutionize Mining and Reduce the Environmental Problem of Electronic Waste Worldwide.
Discarded electronics can be a gold mine – literally. A study conducted by Chinese researchers from Tsinghua University, the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), and British researchers from the Metal Research Institute under CAS and the University of Manchester recently found that reduced graphene oxide can extract gold from electronic waste with high efficiency and without needing other chemicals or energy.
Besides its superficial uses in jewelry, gold is valued for use in electronic components due to its high electrical conductivity and ease of manipulation. However, electronic devices have a high turnover rate, and recovering gold and other precious metals is often a complicated, inefficient process that requires chemicals or high heat.
But now, the researchers have developed a much simpler method for recovering gold from electronic waste. All it takes is a bit of graphene.
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Without a mansion, without high investment, and without a traditional classroom, a teacher living in a 22 m² house taught students to build a 9 m² studio apartment with the equivalent of R$10,000.
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Without her own home and pressured by rent, a 25-year-old bought a small 15-meter boat, gradually renovated the interior by herself, transformed the interior with paint, new flooring, a larger bathroom, and started living on the canals, paying much less per month.
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Long before sustainable construction became a trend, China built earthen fortresses with multiple floors, a central courtyard, and the capacity to house up to 800 people living in a community.
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China could reduce iron ore imports from 80% to 50% of consumption by 2030, while its share in global steel production falls from 52% to 46%, in a shift that could reshape the global market, says CMRG.
Graphene as the Philosopher’s Stone: Extracting Gold from Waste, Watch the Video Below and Check It Out!
Only 1 Gram Is Sufficient to Extract More Than 95% of Gold from a Given Sample!
First, electronic waste is ground and then dissolved in a solution. A membrane made of reduced graphene oxide is added, and within minutes, pure gold begins to accumulate on the surface of the membrane.
Just 1 gram of graphene is enough to extract nearly double that amount of gold, attracting over 95% of the gold in a given sample, even at concentrations as low as one part per billion. Importantly, it does not attract other metals in the electronic waste mix, and subsequently, the graphene membrane can be burned, leaving behind pure gold. The new method could allow the gold in electronics to be recycled rather than wasted.
Graphene Will Help Reduce the Growing Environmental Problem of Electronic Waste
“This apparent magic is essentially a simple electrochemical process,” said Dr. Yang Su, the lead author of the study. “Unique interactions between graphene and gold ions drive the process and also produce exceptional selectivity. Only gold is extracted without other ions or salts.”
The team says the technique can help reduce the amount of gold that goes to waste, as well as reduce the growing environmental problem of electronic waste. Other scientists have tackled the issue using solvents made mostly of vinegar or other mild acids, or by designing circuit boards that break down when placed in hot water.
I would love to know what you think about this new technology using graphene. Let us know in the comments section. Don’t forget to leave 5 stars and enable notifications from CPG to keep up with all the news in the tech world. Until next time!
É interessante como os problemas climáticos impulsionam novas tecnologias. Mas também, muitas das vezes, trazem outros problemas que necessitam de novas abordagens.
No caso do grafeno, temos que ver onde estão as reservas de grafeno e o custo econômico, ambiental e social de obter esse material, transportar e usar.
Geralmente, como aconteceu com o lítio, as reservas se encontram em locais que sofrem destruição para sua obtenção, além de uma série de problemas ecológicos e sociais
O brasileiro é muito especial e um mundo precisa de avanço tecnológico sempre.
1 kg de grafite, minério do qual se extrai o grafeno, custa 1 dólar. “Mas com 1 kg de grafite é possível produzir 150g de grafeno, sendo que 1g de grafeno vale 100 dólares. Ou seja, 1 kg de grafite rende 15 mil dólares