Researchers have discovered a way to create a material that can be made like a plastic, but conducts electricity like a metal.
Researchers at the University of Chicago have discovered a way to create a material that can be made like a plastic, but conducts electricity like a metal., the scientists explain that even though the molecular fragments of the material are jumbled and disordered, it can still conduct electricity extremely well. This goes against all of the known rules about conductivity.
Using this technique has proven advantageous because materials become more flexible and easier to process than traditional metals. The issue that they face, however, is that they aren’t very stable; they can lose their conductivity if exposed to moisture or if the temperature gets too high.In terms of their basic characteristics, both organic and traditional metallic conductors share a commonality: They are made up of straight, closely packed rows of atoms or molecules.
To his astonishment, the material easily and strongly conducted electricity. What’s more, it was very stable. But to Xie and his colleagues, the most striking thing was that the molecular structure of the material was disordered.