Researchers at the universities of Jyvaskyla (Finland) and Xiamen (China) have discovered a novel way to make functional macroscopic crystalline materials out of nanometer-size 34-atom silver-gold intermetallic clusters. The cluster material has a highly anisotropic electrical conductivity, being a semiconductor in one direction and an electrical insulator in other directions. Synthesis of the material and its electrical properties were investigated in Xiamen and the theoretical characterization of the material was carried out in Jyvaskyla. The research was published online in Nature Communications on May 6, 2020.
Click here for original story, Technique to make functional materials based on polymers of metal clusters
Source: Phys.org