Shifting the flow

Materials experts have taken a chemical substance with a traditional use as an electrical conductor and turned it into a thin film insulator. The new material could have important uses in transistor technology, such as electronic books.

The team, from Johns Hopkins University in the US,  transformed the electrical conducting compound by blocking its flow of electricity to induce the large electric currents elsewhere.

The resulting material is called solution-deposited beta-alumina, and details of the study are published in the journal Nature Materials.

“This form of sodium beta-alumina has some very useful characteristics,” said Howard E. Katz, a professor of materials science and engineering who supervised the research team. “The material is produced in a liquid state, which means it can easily be deposited onto a surface in a precise pattern for the formation of printed circuits. But when it’s heated, it forms a solid, thin transparent film. In addition, it allows us to operate at low voltages, meaning it requires less power to induce useful current. That means its applications could operate with smaller batteries or be connected to a battery instead of a wall outlet.”

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