Modern Alchemists: Scientists Turn Cement into Metal Instead of Lead into Gold

You've probably heard about ancient alchemists trying to turn lead into gold, but have you heard about scientists turning cement into metal? Researchers have unraveled the formula for turning liquid cement into liquid metal, a huge step forward when it comes to its use in electronics for thin films, protective coatings and computer chips.

"This new material has lots of applications, including as thin-film resistors used in liquid-crystal displays, basically the flat panel computer monitor that you are probably reading this from at the moment," said Chris Benmore, a physicist from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory, in a news release.

So how exactly did the scientists accomplish the almost magical feat? The scientists studied mayenite, a component of alumina cement made of calcium and aluminum oxides. They melted it at temperatures of 2,000 degress Celsius using an aerodynamic levitator with carbon dioxide laser beam heating. The material was processed in different atmospheres to control the way that oxygen bonds in the resulting glass. The levitator keeps the hot liquid from touching any container surfaces and forming crystals. This, in turn, let the liquid cool into a glassy state that can trap electrons in the way needed for electronic conduction.

"This phenomenon of trapping electrons and turning liquid cement into liquid metal was found recently, but not explained in detail until now," said Benmore in a news release. "Now that we know the conditions needed to create trapped electrons in materials, we can develop and test other materials to find out if we can make them conduct electricity in this way."

Essentially, the new material displays its conductivity when free electrons are "trapped" in the cage-like structures that are formed in the glass. The trapped electrons provide a mechanism for conductivity similar to the mechanism that occurs in metals.

The new material has huge applications for electronics, especially because it demonstrates several positive attributes. These include a better resistance to corrosion than tradition metal, less brittleness than traditional glass, conductivity, low energy loss in magnetic fields and fluidity for ease of processing and molding. The material has the potential to revolutionize the making of electronic items.

The findings are published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.