Chemists have discovered a new material. It's the "plastic" that conducts electricity

Chemists from the University of Chicago have found a new type of conductor. The study, published in the journal Nature,

explains how to create a material in which the molecular fragments are jumbled and disorganized, like plastic, but at the same time it conducts electricity well.

The researchers experimented with someunusual materials discovered several years ago - amorphous coordination polymers. They "strung" nickel atoms like pearls onto a chain of molecular balls of carbon and sulfur and began testing.

Despite the lack of an ordered structure,the resulting material easily and efficiently conducted electricity. Moreover, it proved to be extremely stable: it successfully withstood heat, air, humidity, acidic and alkaline environments. Such properties are useful for applications in electronics, scientists say.

Conductive materials are absolutely necessary forcreation of all electrical appliances. The most numerous group of conductors that are used in practice are metals: copper, gold, aluminum. About 50 years ago, organic conductors obtained by doping were added to them. Such materials are more flexible and easier to process, but are destroyed by moisture or at too high a temperature.

Both metals and doped organics havesimilarity: they are composed of straight, close-packed rows of atoms or molecules. It is this property that provides electrical conductivity: electrons can easily "pass" through the material. There is no such structure in the new material.

The study showed that conductionprovided by layers that form the material, like sheets in climbing. Even if they move sideways and do not form an even structure, the electrons can still move horizontally or vertically - as long as the pieces are in contact.

Scientists believe their work paves the way fora completely new direction in the design and manufacture of conductors that retain all the advantages of metals, will be resistant to external influences and can be created at room temperature.

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Cover image: John Zich/University of Chicago