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Revolutionary discovery: Bayreuth researchers develop fascinating metal!
A research team at the University of Bayreuth discovers magnesium chloride, a new metal with exceptional conductivity properties.
Revolutionary discovery: Bayreuth researchers develop fascinating metal!
In a fascinating discovery, an international research team led by the University of Bayreuth has discovered a novel metal: magnesium chloride, also known as Mg3Cl7. This remarkable material exhibits not only electrical conductivity but also internal polarity, which sets it apart from conventional metals. As [Wiesentbote] reports, magnesium chloride can even produce a second harmonic generation, an optical effect normally only found in non-metals. Such properties open new horizons for technologies ranging from computer chips to medical sensors and light-based communications.
What's particularly exciting is that magnesium chloride conducts electricity in a completely different way. Instead of an electron cloud, as is the case with ordinary metals, the electrons here are provided by chloride ions. This demonstrates the material's exceptional chemical structure, monitored under extreme conditions such as those created in the high-pressure diamond anvil cell. Using intense synchrotron X-rays, the crystal structure was successfully decoded, as [Pro-Physik] also reports.
Innovations and applications
Although magnesium chloride cannot currently be produced in industrial quantities, research is shedding new light on the possibilities of multifunctional materials. The study highlights the importance of high-pressure research: it shows that simple elements such as magnesium and chlorine can form completely unexpected and promising structures under extreme conditions.
Magnesium chloride, which is chemically referred to as MgCl2, also has remarkable physical properties. They are colorless and odorless crystals that are easily soluble in water. In its anhydrous form, the material has a molar mass of 95.21 g mol−1 and a melting point of 712 °C. These properties make magnesium chloride not only exciting for electronics, but also for various applications in the food industry and alternative medicine.
Research that inspires
Leonid Dubrovinsky from the Bavarian Geoinstitute highlights that the discovery of magnesium chloride could not only revolutionize chemistry and materials design, but also has the potential to inspire numerous new ways of thinking in science. Materials that both conduct electricity and emit light could hold the key to future breakthroughs in photonics and quantum construction technology.
The discovery is published in the renowned Journal of the American Chemical Society and proves once again how important innovative research approaches are. It remains to be seen what exciting developments will emerge from these findings.