BASF AG researchers at the company’s Ludwigshafen laboratories say they have developed a process for making a plastic – a polyacetyline laced with Iodine – that pound for pound conducts electricity as well as Copper: they caution that many years of work will likely be needed before it can be used in practical applications, but the breakthrough may well lead to the discovery of better combinations holding out the prospect of smaller, much lighter electric motors and batteries – unless the new plastics are overtaken by high temperature superconductors before it can be perfected.
