Scientists at the University of Chicago have found a way to create a new material like plastic, but conducts like metal.
The study, published in October. 26 in Nature, shows how to make the type of material of molecular fragments mixed with disorder, but which can still conduct electricity well.
It goes against all the laws we know about conductivity – for a scientist, it’s like seeing a car going through water and going at 70 mph. But the discovery can also be very useful; if you want to create something revolutionary, the process usually starts with the discovery of something completely new.
“In principle, this paves the way for the creation of a new class of electrically conductive materials that are easy to shape and robust in everyday conditions,” John Anderson, assistant professor of chemistry at the University of Chicago and author basically said. of birth. “Fundamentally, this presents a new opportunity for a very important technology,” said Jiaze Xie (PhD’22, now at Princeton), first author of the paper.
“There’s no hard way to explain this”
Hardware is very important if you are making any kind of electronic device, be it iPhone, solar panel, or TV. Currently, the oldest and most important group of conductors is metal: copper, gold, aluminum. Then, about 50 years ago, scientists were able to create conductors from organic materials, using a chemical treatment called “doping”, which sprinkles atoms or electrons separate from the object. This is useful because these materials are flexible and easier to process than traditional metals, but the problem is that they are not stable; they can lose conductivity if exposed to water or if the temperature is too high.
But basically, these two organic and traditional metal conductors share a common feature. They are made up of straight lines of atoms or molecules. This means that electrons can flow through those objects very quickly, like cars on the highway. In fact, scientists believe that a material must have well-ordered lines in order to conduct electricity well.
Then, Xie began to experiment with some of the things that had been discovered years ago but had been ignored. He hammered nickel atoms like beads into a molecular chain made of carbon and sulfur, and began experimenting.
To the amazement of scientists, the material makes electricity light and strong. Also, it is stable. “We heated it, let it cool, exposed it to air and water, and even poured acid and odor on it, and nothing happened,” said Xie. This is very useful for devices that need to work in the real world.
But for scientists, the most significant thing is that the molecular structure of the substance is not good. “From a critical point of view, it can’t be metal,” Anderson said. “There’s no hard way to explain this.”
Xie, Anderson and their lab worked with other scientists at the university to try to find out how the material can make electricity. After tests, simulations and scientific work, they believe that the material is formed in layers, like leaves in lasagna. Although the pieces of paper turn sideways, and no longer create a good lasagna stack, the electrons can still move forward or horizontally, as long as the pieces are touching.
The result is unprecedented for a conductive material. “It’s almost like Play-Doh conducts — you can put it on and it conducts electricity,” Anderson said.
Scientists are excited because the discovery shows a new design principle for electronic technology. The drivers are very important and almost every new development opens new avenues for technology, they explained.
One of the interesting things about this thing is the new design options. For example, metals often need to be melted in order to be shaped into the right shape for a chip or device, which limits what you can do with them, as other parts of the device need to be able to withstand it. temperature is important for the treatment these things.
The new material does not have such restrictions because it can be done at room temperature. It can be used where devices or device parts are required to withstand heat, acid or alkalinity, or water with limited options for engineers to develop new technologies.
The group is also exploring the different types and functions the item may have. “We think we can make it 2-D or 3-D, make it smoother, or even introduce other functions by adding different connections or nodes,” Xie said.
