Plastics unite to make unexpected ‘metal’
June 16, 2008 | Source: NewScientist.com news service
Attaching a micrometer-thick crystal of the organic polymer TTF to a similarly thin organic crystal of the polymer TCNQ results in a 2-nanometer-thick strip along the interface between the two crystals that conducts electricity as well as a metal, Delft University of Technology researchers have found.
The discovery could lead to new ways of making electronics from non-metallic materials, and even new superconductors.