Decorative gold materials chemistry

Detailed reviews for the reader on the application technology, materials used [1,2], and history [3] are available. The scope of this chapter is to introduce the materials and application technologies associated with decorative gold materials, highlighting their origin, history, and chemistry. It is aimed at the reader with a scientific background who is curious about the development of this technology, and who may wish to pursue this area further. 

Hydrous oxides are of major interest in many areas of technology, e.g., corrosion and passivation of metals, formation of decorative, protective, and insulating films, aqueous battery systems, catalysis and electrocatalysis, electrochromic display systems, pH monitoring devices, soil science, colloid chemistry, and various branches of material science. Detailed accounts of some of the nonnoble hydrous metal oxide systems, especially aluminum,1 have appeared recently. In the case of the noble metals such as platinum or gold most of the electrochemical work to date has been concerned with compact monolayer, and submonolayer, oxide growth. 

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