Scientists have found a material that can be an insulator and a conductor depending on the pressure
A joint research team from the University of Rochester and the University of Nevada discovered a unique compound that leads itself, depending on the applied pressure, is rather non-standard and can act as an insulating material and in the role of conductor. Today I want to tell you about this discovery.
Conductor and insulator, what is the difference
The ability of any material to pass an electric current through itself is due to the movement of free electrons. It is for this reason that all metals are excellent conductors.
In insulators, the electrons are, as it were, "glued in" in their orbits and in order to displace them from their place, a significantly higher voltage is required than is usually able to provide the applied voltage. But scientists were able to discover the material manganese disulfide, which behaves both as an insulator and as a conductor, depending on how much pressure is applied to it.
New material and its unusual properties
This discovery was made by A. Salamat and his colleagues when they were studying the conductive properties of metallic sulfides. So when manganese disulfide is in normal conditions, then it manifests itself as a moderate insulator.
Only after the engineers placed the material on the diamond "anvil" and created tremendous pressure, then observing the experiment with surprise found that the material under study went into a metallic state and thus almost immediately lost its increased electrical resistance.
Thus, with an increase in pressure to 12 gigapascals (approximately 12,000 atmospheres), the resistance of the material dropped hundreds of millions of times.
But the most amazing thing happened next. When the engineers continued to increase the pressure to 36 gigapascals, the reverse transition occurred, and manganese disulfide (MnS2) became an insulator again.
As R. Diaz, in the overwhelming majority of cases, metals remain metals and are not converted into insulators, and the fact that MnS2 is able to move from insulator to metal and back is a unique case.
Scientists have demonstrated the principle in which enormous pressure provokes the "switching" of manganese disulfide into a conducting state and back.
So when pressure is applied, the atoms move closer to each other, and it is for this reason that their outer electrons are able to interact.
In the course of this event, a space is formed in the crystal lattice, through which charges are able to move. But when the pressure increases even more, the lattice becomes even more "thick", and the electrons are again unable to move.
Scientists also emphasize that manganese disulfide changes its state at room temperature and at relatively low pressure. So usually for such a transition it is necessary to apply cryogenic conditions and an order of magnitude higher pressure.
So, having formed a pressure of about 500 gigapascals, it is possible to create metallic hydrogen, which can be contained in large quantities in the bowels of giant planets.
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