Major Breakthrough: Researchers transform cement into liquid metal

Illustration for article titled Major Breakthrough: Researchers transform cement into liquid metal

Scientists at Argonne National Laboratory have concocted a formula that turns cement into a semi-conductor — a breakthrough that will allow it to be used for thin films, protective coatings, and computer chips.

Advertisement

The international research team did so by melting mayenite (a rare calcium aluminum oxide mineral) at about 2,000 degrees Celsius using an aerodynamic levitator with laser beam heating. The levitator used nozzles to pump out inert gas that levitated the mayenite.

Illustration for article titled Major Breakthrough: Researchers transform cement into liquid metal

They then processed the material in various conditions to control the way that oxygen bonds in the resulting glass. The levitator keeps hot liquid from touching any container surface and forming crystals — a method which allowed the liquid to cool into a glassy state, that traps electrons in a way that's conducive for electronic conduction.

In other words, they blasted the shit out of levitated cement with lasers until it melted and turned into liquid metal. Who says the future isn't here yet?

The scientists discovered that the conductivity was created when the free electrons were "trapped" in the cage-like structures that formed in the glass. Interestingly, the trapped electrons provide a mechanisms for conductivity similar to what happens in metal.

The end result was a material that's metallic- and glass-like, but one that exhibits better resistance to corrosion than regular metal — and is less brittle than glass. And of course, it's a semi-conductive material.

Advertisement

The study can be read at PNAS: "Network topology for the formation of solvated electrons in binary CaO–Al2O3 composition glasses."

[Source and images: Argonne National Laboratory]

Top image: Andrii Muzyka/Shutterstock.

Advertisement

DISCUSSION

The real application of this is in thin film semiconductor surfaces that are flexible, at least if I understand the information being presented correctly. The expense of this application isn't visible from what I can see, but the utility is very interesting. Plus, this is the second such thin-film semiconductor application that I've seen. The other was semiconductive plastic that could be 3-d printed, although the system was more for bulkier circuitry. This one, however, has the potential to be used for semiconductor applications on the scales of our current processors.

In some of my previous posts I've pointed to the rate of advancement, and said that it isn't slowing down. Things that I had written off long ago as impossible are becoming probable every single day. We don't just live in interesting times, we live in amazing times.