This October 26, a new investigation was published in Nature. Here, we’re told of a new discovery, and it’s one that could change the world of electronics forever. Scientists have developed new electrical conductors, they say. manufactured like plastic, and able to conduct electricity like any metal.
How have they achieved it? In summary, the molecular fragments that make up the material have been rearranged. In this way, we obtain a flexible product, but capable of conducting electricity extremely well.
As described from Physics, for a scientist this would be the equivalent of “seeing a car drive on water and being able to do it at 112 kilometers per hour”. Namely, something that goes against all the logic of what we knowbut capable of becoming something revolutionary for more than one industry at the same time.
In principle, this opens up the design of a whole new class of materials that conduct electricity, are easy to mold, and are very robust under everyday conditions.
John Anderson, associate professor of chemistry at the University of Chicago and senior author of the study
How have they managed to create such a conductive material?
Conductive materials are essential today. Thanks to them, we can have electronic devices of all kinds. In fact, its importance is so great that its scarcity has caused a real crisis among manufacturing companies today. Thus, launches of entire devices have been delayedand bottlenecks in the production of others, such as Microsoft and Sony consoles.
Until now, the most popular variety of conductive materials is among the metals. Elements such as gold, copper and aluminum stand out for their use in industry. Today, we know that a new material could be included in this listalthough it is not the first time that this possibility has been studied.
As they recall, About 50 years ago a similar discovery occurred. At that time, scientists discovered that they could create conductors from organic materials. To achieve this, all they needed was to use a chemical treatment on said material. In this way, it was charged with different atoms and electrons.
Nevertheless, this method proved not to be the most recommended. After all, these highly flexible materials lost their conductive treatment quickly. Among the different reasons, high temperatures and exposure to humidity were detected.
A new generation of electrical conductors
Despite its impracticality, this type of conducting material set a precedent that other scientists were able to follow. Thus, using this technique of agglomeration of atoms and molecules through ordered rows, the scientist Then Xie began to experiment.
Testing with different materials and orders of atoms, he managed to create a specimen capable of conducting electricity easily and strongly. But best of all, it was also very stable. So much so unaffected to any extent by heat, cold, humidity, air, or acidic chemicals.
But the most surprising of all is that, despite its characteristics, the material does not meet the requirements to be a metal. Based on its molecular structure, this is too messy to be considered such a material. “There is no single theory that explains it,” Anderson said.
A discovery of this style has not taken long to stir up humor in the scientific community. Also, material can be applied at room temperature, removing the limitations of what could be done when designing devices. After all, to apply metallic conductors, it is necessary to heat the device to process the material, which is not the case with this new example.
Of course, it is still too early to predict how this discovery will affect the industry. However, in such a problematic current situation with the electrical conductor industry, it could become a great alternative after a more exhaustive study.