Scientists claim to have created the world's smallest Valentine with palladium and gold atoms deposited on a carbon film.

A team from the University of Birmingham produced the tiny heart, which measures 5nm x 3.5nm, breaking their own world record from 2010.

PhD student Alina Bruma and Dr Ziyou Li took images of the heart using a JEOL 2100F electron microscope, which uses electrons rather than photons to produce images.

To form the heart shape, the palladium and gold needed to be heated.

At room temperature the particles form an irregular arrangement. But by heating to between 200 and 300 degrees C "marked structure transforms occur, resulting in more ordered and regular alloyed nanoparticles", Dr Li explained.

The process used this time creates a more stable heart than before, which could have important implications in other areas of research.

"The ability to control the structure of nanoalloys may one day lead to new materials with novel properties, having potential applications in areas such as catalysis and optical devices," Dr Li told PhysOrg.com.

Source:

New record for world's smallest atomic valentine (14/02/12)

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