Scientists have succeeded in developing "goldene," an extraordinarily thin version of gold
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This comes after graphene, a material composed of single-layer graphite atoms, was successfully produced
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It is extremely strong and conducts heat and electricity far more effectively than copper, which has led to it being heralded as a miracle material
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It is based on the idea that scientists disperse gold until it is only one layer of atoms thick. They claim that this gives it new properties that may pave the way for new discoveries
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The new substance has a wide range of potential applications, including communications technologies, water purification, carbon dioxide conversion etc
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That substance, created by an intercalation method, was available to researchers for a few years. However, they were unable to extract the gold itself from it
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They then used a technique known as Murakami's reagent, which is used by Japanese smiths to remove carbon from materials, for instance, alter the colour of steel
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The researchers made some changes to the technique to extract the gold
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Scientists said that gold could just be one of a range of similar metals. They are researching to understand whether similar findings could be used on other materials