A group of researchers from the U.S., Finland, Germany, and Japan worked with the U.S. Department of Energy to develop a way to turn cement into liquid metal, according to The Atlantic.
The groundbreaking new process transforms liquid cement into a glass-metal hybrid that's good at conducting heat and electricity. The researchers believe the material could be used for liquid-crystal display screens.
Scientists say the new substance could be used as a semiconductor in electronics because it possesses "good conductivity, low energy loss in magnetic fields, better resistance to corrosion than traditional metal, less brittleness than traditional glass, and fluidity for ease of processing and molding," The Atlantic said.
The scientists created the process through "electron trapping," which occurs when free electrons are "trapped" in polycrystalline materials to give off conductivity.
"This phenomenon of trapping electrons and turning liquid cement into liquid metal was found recently, but not explained in detail until now," said Chris Benmore, a physicist from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory who led the team. "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."
See below a visualization of the process:
Benmore studied Mayenite, a rare calcium aluminium oxide mineral, it's main feature is cubic symmetry. The team melted the substance at 3632 degrees Fahrenheit using carbon dioxide laser beams.
They then took the liquid that was produced and processed it under several different environments so that they could control the way oxygen bonded the glass.
The group developed a technique for suspending the material using an aerodynamic levitator that held the hot liquid in the air. This was to protect the liquid from touching the surface of the container and forming crystals.
While in the air the liquid cools and produces the glass-like state that is able to trap electrons for conduction.
Here's an example of aerodynamic levitation:
