French Emperor Napoleon III would use a unique set of aluminum cutlery only for his most honored dinner guests.Normal guests had to contend with gold utensils.In the middle of the 19th century, aluminum was more scarce and desirable than even gold.As a result, aluminum bullion bars found a place among the national treasures of France, and aluminum jewelry became a symbol of the French aristocracy.Aluminum, known by its atomic number 13 on the periodic table, is a ubiquitous element, yet it mainly exists intertwined in complex chemical compounds and not in its metallic state.The complex procedure of transforming aluminum compounds...