From Qatar to lab
A CIBION researcher replicated the World Cup Trophy in a nano version
Luciana Martínez used a technique known as “nanoparticle optical printing” in order to design, in a nano version, the Trophy that was obtained by Argentina.
Last December 18th was a day that will remain engraved in the memory of all Argentines. That day, the team coached by Lionel Scaloni defeated France in penalties and won the World Cup.
Some minutes after the victory, Lionel Messi raised a Trophy that has 6 kilos of 18-karat gold (the equivalent of 4.5 kilos of pure gold). Since that moment, Argentina National Team has been praised all over the world. The Center For Bionanoscience Research (CIBION) didn’t want to be the exception.
We won the cup and the nanocup
The world champions deserved a tribute from science. Then, Luciana Martínez, phd candidate and member of Applied Nanophysics Lab lead by Fernando Stefani, replicated the trophy that was raised by the players, but in a nano version. This nanocup is made of 287 pure gold nanoparticles that add up to 1.5 picograms. The procedure was carried out through a technique known as "optical impression of nanoparticles", which is carried out in the mentioned laboratory.
AFA has its third golden star and its third nanostar!
Using the same technique that was used to create the nanocup, Martínez designed the new version of AFA’s crest, with its three golden stars, which represents each of the World Cups that Argentina won (1978, 1986, 2022). Each bright dot seen in the photo is a gold nanoparticle 80 nm in diameter that was located using optical forces generated with a laser focused and tuned to the plasmonic resonance of the nanoparticles.