How do you you turn gold chloride into gold metal?

Answer 1

I'm not certain this will work, never having tried it myself, but I think it's worth a try. I think your best bet to change AuCl into pure gold is to try electrolysis.

First dissolve the AuCl in water. It would work best with distilled water but regular water will work too; the gold just won't be as pure. Cover the solution with plastic wrap or something that you can puncture.

Obtain two nails. These will act as electrodes. Set them up in a way such that the point of each nail is in the solution and the head is sticking out of the solution. That's what the plastic wrap is for. Also, it might be a good idea to saw off the points of the nails because the gold metal will be attatching to one of the nails and it would be difficult to remove if the nail still had a tip. Make sure the two nails aren't touching.

Next, get a battery, 9 volt or better. Attach a wire from the cathode to one of the electrodes and attach another wire from the anode to the other electrode. Let it sit. If everything worked out well, there should be a deposit of solid gold at the end of one of the nails.

I don't know of a test for gold salts, but if the water changes color when you dissolve the AuCl, all gold salts, regardless of the anion will cause the same color change.

Answer 2

You can reduce gold chloride to gold metal by adding a reducing agent, such as sodium metabisulfite, sodium sulfite, or hydrazine, to the solution. By providing electrons, the reducing agent helps convert the gold ions in the solution to elemental gold, resulting in the deposition of gold metal on the surface of the container.