Composite Nicklates for Energy-Efficient Electronics

(University of Geneva, August 18, 2020)

Researchers at the University of Geneva, in collaboration with their colleagues from EPFL, the University of Zurich, the Flatiron Institute of New York and the University of Liège, recently discovered a hitherto-unknown physical phenomenon in an artificial material made up of very thin layers of nickelates, which could be exploited to develop new, more energy-efficient electronic devices. Nicklates are unique in that they switch from an insulating state to an electrical conductor above a certain temperature, which, under normal circumstances, varies between layers. However, by refining the layers until each one was no larger than eight atoms, the researchers were able to get the entire sample to behave like a single material, with only one large jump in conductivity at an intermediate transition temperature, as explained by first author Claribel Domínguez.