Researchers Develop New Way to Use Graphene for Recovering Gold

Aug, 2022 - By WMR

Researchers showed that with this new method, graphene can be used to efficiently recover gold from electronic waste without the need for other chemicals or even energy

Electronic waste continues to rise with time as there are various electronic devices increasingly emerging in the society. However, when discarded, this electronic waste be very useful. Now a team of scientists from the University of Manchester, the Chinese Academy of Science and Tsinghua University, China in collaboration have developed a new way to utilize graphene for recovering gold from electronic waste, without the need for chemicals or energy.

Gold is often used in electronic components due to its high levels of electrical conductivity and the ease of work it offers. However, the process of recovering gold from electronic waste is often complicated and needs energy or heat. In this new study, the researchers developed a new technique that uses graphene to recover gold from electronic waste. In this method, the e-waste gets grounded up and then dissolved in a solution. Then the researchers add a membrane created from lowered graphene oxides and in only few minutes the pure gold starts accumulating on the membrane surface. It requires only 1gm of graphene for extracting nearly twice the amount gold, as it attracts more than 95% of gold in a given sample at concentrations as much as one part per billion.

Moreover, this method attracts only gold and then the graphene membrane can be switched off, which leaves the pure gold behind. According to the team, this technique may help in reducing the gold amount going in waste, as it is only an electrochemical process where the process is driven by the interactions between graphene and gold ions and yields exceptional selectivity. In other studies, researchers have used vinegar or mild acids or even designed circuit boards that then did not work in hot water.