nannah
Hazard to Others
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Registered: 20-12-2013
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Future applications for various precious metals?
Hi, guys. As you may or may not know, i am a precious metals guy. I am interested in almost all of their uses. The amazing things they can do as
catalysts in organic chemistry, how they conduct, and so fourth. Im not so interested in the jewelry part.
Anyway, i am a member of a coin collecters and investers forum. There in an ongoing thread the members talks about the price of precious metals, and
trying to predict then it is a good time to buy or sell.
Lately the prices of precious metals have dropped, and especially silver and gold.
What i wanted to ask if you know of any new applications precious metals can have in the future?
I know silver and gold are used in electronics, and other stuff, but are there any new applications in the horizon that may change the precious metal
prices.
I think you know what i am getting at? Im not so good with expressing myself in english. 
Thanks in advance.
/n.
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j_sum1
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Gold nanoparticle catalysis
http://scholar.google.com.au/scholar?q=gold+nanoparticle+cat...
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Polverone
Now celebrating 21 years of madness
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I don't know what silver industrial applications are likely to increase in the future, but I will warn you against a popular argument that you should
reject. A lot of silver bulls say that rapidly increasing production of photovoltaic modules will lead to rapidly increasing silver demand. It won't.
The argument is based on a grain of truth. The majority of the PV market is based on crystalline silicon, and the majority of c-Si cells use silver
alloys for cell contacts. The problem with the "silver demand will skyrocket" argument is that manufacturers are economizing on silver every year with
reformulated alloys, new deposition methods, and partial or complete substitution of base metals for silver. The industry used more silver in 2011
than it does now, even though manufacturing volume shows strong growth. This is in a context where peak silver prices have been falling each year
since 2011. If prices go back up the pressure to economize will redouble.
Some high efficiency manufacturers such as SunPower and Panasonic have entirely substituted base metals, largely copper, for silver in their modules.
The PV industry may reach a new silver consumption peak some time this decade, several years after the 2011 peak, but in the long term I expect PV
silver intensity to keep falling toward zero. Only a silver price crash could stall the downward trend. But if there's a silver price crash it's
unprofitable to be holding silver anyway, so basically, don't believe anyone who says that people should invest in silver to profit from trends in
solar power.
PGP Key and corresponding e-mail address
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BromicAcid
International Hazard
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After reading up on the scarcity of rhenium along with the criticality of it for various super alloys I really wish I had a way to invest in that.
It seems metalurgists area always trying to push the boundries of strength and heat resistance and rhenium is one of those go-to metals behind the
scenes.
[Edited on 11/12/2014 by BromicAcid]
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Dr.Bob
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Since photography has gone mostly digital, that has dropped demand for silver by a lot, and since silver is produced mostly as a byproduct of copper
mining and refining, there is a fairly steady supply. So based on the laws of supply and demand, I predict that silver will drop in price until more
women buy lots of shiney stuff, which seems to help keep many commodity prices higher than might be rationalized, like gold, platinum and diamonds.
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