The performance of an object that has been dependent upon whether the object is composed of a conductive or a nonconductive material. Conductors are materials that allow electrons to flow freely from ...

University of Cambridge researchers have discovered that a material already known for its peculiar electrical properties appears to behave as both a conductor and an insulator at the same time. This ...

Combining a topological insulator with a superconductor could enable the design of advanced materials with broad potential application in semiconductor electronics and computing, including novel ...

Some materials that are inherently disordered display unusual conductivity, sometimes behaving like insulators and sometimes like conductors. Physicists have now analyzed the conductivity in a special ...

Normally metals and insulators sit at opposite ends of a spectrum of conductivity, but researchers have discovered a material that can switch between those states freely, even at room temperature. The ...

Fine tuning: a new theoretical framework for controlling a system’s properties using laser beams has been developed. (Courtesy: iStock/Swillklitch) Laser light could turn a normally insulating ...

Plastics are excellent insulators, meaning they efficiently trap heat—a quality that is an advantage in something such as a coffee cup sleeve. But this insulating property is less desirable in ...

(Nanowerk News) By carefully tuning the chemical composition of a particular compound, researchers have created a “topological crystalline insulator,” whose bulk acts as an insulator but whose surface ...