Conducting plastic

When two plastics (polymers TTF and TCNQ) are placed atop one another, a thin strip forms that conducts electricity “as well as a metal”.

The TTF-TCNQ interface conducts electricity much better than standard semiconductors. “The electron concentration there is an order of magnitude higher,” Mannhart says. “That has the power to create new effects, from magnetism to superconductivity.”

• electricity
• science