From research in the Netherlands, scientists have discovered a duet of non-conductive plastics, that when pushed together, create a boundary layer that conducts electricity as if metal was suddenly placed there.

The crystalline organic polymers TTF and TCNQ were placed together, and it was found that the materials were held loosely by van der Waals  forces ( the method of hydrogen bonding, and the way that oxygen, nitrogen, and other diatomic gasses are formed). TTF and TCNQ are both insulators, and a blended polymer, while not as resistive as the materials taken independently, does weakly conduct.

When the two materials are placed together, a measured 2 nanometer region conducts electricity as though the lattice had changed into metal. This layer could be the start of a new form of conductive plastic transistor, as it has been theorized that what allows the electron passage is a tunnel being formed – much like the way that an IG-MOSFET works. Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistors are the creations that mimic the workings of a vacuum tube more than other types of transistors, and the Insulated Gate variety is an analog to the way a screen grid works in a pentode design.

from New Scientist

The result is that, in the 2-nm gap between the molecules of the two different materials, they can travel freely, allowing current to flow. “Such an electron-hole system is really something new and it may have interesting electronic properties,” Morpurgo says.

Jochen Mannhart at the University of Augsburg in Germany agrees. “You do get exciting things happening at interfaces – physics at interfaces is responsible for the behaviour of semiconductors, for instance.”

But 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.”

Superconductors  are not only cool, the research into them is much of what fuels the idea of power transmission without the huge losses currently incurred. This could change many things over the next few years, similar to the changes that occurred when the original junction transistors were perfected.

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