Boron Turns Conductive

QinhuangdaoImma-B conducts over a million times better than typical boron.

Every previously known boron form is superhard, and most conduct poorly.

Researchers at Yanshan University in China compressed boron with sodium, then heated it at 400 °C under vacuum to remove the sodium.

Materials chemist Artem Oganov says the method opens a synthesis route to a whole family of boron materials.

Sources: Nature