2,000-Year-Old Electronics Tech Still Can't be Matched

Photo Credit: AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETYOver 2,000 years ago, gold and silversmiths developed a variety of techniques, including using mercury like a glue, to apply thin films of metals to statues and other objects.

They developed thin-film coating technology that is unrivalled by today’s process for producing DVDs, solar cells, electronic devices and other products and used it on jewels, statues, amulets and more common objects.

Workmen managed to make precious metal coatings as thin and adherent as possible, which not only saved expensive metals but improved resistance to wear caused from continued use and circulation.

Scientists today say understanding these sophisticated metal-plating techniques could help preserve priceless artistic and other treasures from the past.

In Italy, Gabriel Maria Ingo, senior scientist at the Institute for the Study of Nanostructured Materials of the National Research Council, says that while scientists have made good progress in understanding the chemistry, big gaps in knowledge remain about how gilders in the Dark Ages and other periods applied such lustrous, impressively uniform films of gold or silver to intricate objects.