Chemists create current-bearing plastic
24th February 2011
Chemists have found a new way of producing plastic that conducts electricity, potentially paving the way to cheaper, more robust and er, more plasticky computers.
A team led by Professors Paul Meredith and Ben Powell at the University of Queensland, Associate Professor Adam Micolich of the University of New South Wales School of Physics and UNSW doctoral student Andrew Stephenson used an ion beam to “tune” the plastic film.
“In theory, we can make plastics that conduct no electricity at all or as well as metals do – and everything in between,” says Stephenson.
Gotta love Australians.