Use of Colloidal Gold (or other colloidal metals) in loop?

[vmem]

Hi Guys

I was reading up on the use of colloidal silver as an antiseptic (been used since ancient times), read a few past posts where people asked about using it in place of a kill coil in loops, and it got me thinking about the use of other colloidal (or dispersed nano-scale particles) in water cooling loops. This is because any dispersed, ionic metal have similar anti-biotic properties as silver (at sufficient concentrations)

the two main products I'm thinking of are colloidal gold and colloidal copper. As many of you already know, copper is an awesome conductor and often thought after as the ideal components in a cooling-loop. now in theory, if you can build a all copper loop, then using a colloidal copper solution in distilled water would theoretically give you a maintenance free loop where nothing would ever grow, and since the only metal ion you have is copper, you won't have clogs either

What interests me a bit more is colloidal gold:
http://www.amazon.com/MediGOLD-99-99-Pure-Bioavailable-Colloidal/dp/B004TCR63E/ref=pd_sim_hpc_6

the main reason is the color. colloidal gold has been known to display vibrant red hues depending on the size and concentration of the particles, adding that to their antibiotic properties, I think a colloidal gold solution would make an ideal dye replacement in people's cooling loops. besides, a little bit of gold plating on your copper blocks isn't exactly going to hurt it

so, any thoughts?

 

[manofchalk]

Hmmm....
I cant see anything overtly wrong with the concept, could be a very good way to get colour in the loop and act as a Biocide in a way that doesn't involve traditional dyes or chemicals. It even comes packaged with medical grade water, so coolant is covered and I imagine you could water it down a bit without much ill effect (because its $30 for half a Litre, most loops will use a bit more than that).

One thing I can see happening is the particles falling out of the flow and building up in any nooks and crannies of blocks and the like. Though cant imagine this would be a massive issue with how small these particles are, maybe in a slower flowing loop it might be an issue.

Other issue is more to do with the Gold aspect of it. It might just very much clog your loop due to Galvanic corrosion. The potential for galvanic corrosion between metals is shown by their difference in the Galvanic Index, and Gold is a similar distance to Copper/Nickel/Brass as Aluminium, a metal you don't want anywhere in your loop. Might want to stick with Collodial Copper or Silver.

As always, if you want to try, go ahead and record the results. The more people experimenting with this kind of thing, the better.

 

[toolmaker_03]

antifreeze will help to stabilize the two metals so that the reaction between them is minor. We had a guy that was in the process of having all of his hard ware nickel plated than gold plated so that the whole loop was only one type of metal gold that should have worked, but we never got to see a finished product.

 

[vmem]

hmm, thanks for the advice guys. I'm a chemist by training and to be honest I wish I could use industrial oxygen scavengers to prevent oxidative corrosion but alas all of them are really toxic. nickel or copper plating is worth a try, I might look into it. in the meantime, I think I'll try putting a loop together with colloidal gold and maybe 10% antifreeze and see what happens

Will report back with pictures if everything stays nice, clear, and crimson after a few weeks/months