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PI Physik Instrumente - Revolution In Photonics Align LW LB 3/24

Turning Gold to Purple to Harvest Sunlight

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PROVO, Utah, Jan. 31, 2011 — Professor Richard Watt and his chemistry students at Brigham Young University suspected that a common protein could potentially react with sunlight and harvest its energy — similar to what chlorophyll does during photosynthesis. They started with citric acid from oranges and mixed it with the protein. Next they dissolved gold powder into the solution. Then they put vials of the yellow-colored mixture in direct sunlight and crossed their fingers in the hope that it would turn purple. Here's the reason why: If it turned purple, that would signal that the gold atoms had...Read full article

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    Published: January 2011
    Glossary
    nano
    An SI prefix meaning one billionth (10-9). Nano can also be used to indicate the study of atoms, molecules and other structures and particles on the nanometer scale. Nano-optics (also referred to as nanophotonics), for example, is the study of how light and light-matter interactions behave on the nanometer scale. See nanophotonics.
    AmericasBasic ScienceBrigham Young Universitychlorophyllcitric acidgold turned to purplegreen photonicsharvesting sunlighthigh-powered tungsten mercury lampJae-Woo KimJeff FarrerJeremiah keyesMicroscopynanoNational Institute of Aerospacephotosynthesispurple-colored nanoparticlesResearch & TechnologyRichard WattRobert Hiltonsunlighttransfer of energyUtah

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