A material that is transparent at room temperature and can work from insulator to conductor with a little chip of heat energy seems to be the stuff of science fable , but it ’s very real and it ’s call up metal V dioxide .

If these specialty were n’t enough , scientists have discovered another groundbreaking characteristic . As reported inScience , vanadium dioxide can conduct electricity much better than heat , which is a contradiction of the physical law that relates electric and thermic conductivity in metal .

" This was a totally unexpected determination , " principal investigator Junqiao Wu , a physicist at Berkeley Lab ’s Materials Sciences Division and a UC Berkeley prof of materials science and engineering , said in astatement .   " It demonstrate a drastic partitioning of a textbook law that has been known to be rich for formal conductors . This find is of fundamental importance for realize the basic electronic behavior of novel conductors . "

V dioxide is 10   times more conductive of electricity than heat , and while is not the only material that can do this , they are normally found at temperatures hundred of degrees below zero .

The enigma of such a holding is relate to the limited number of configurations negatron can take in the fabric . In normal metal , electrons can move randomly ( peachy for heat ) and in specific focusing ( outstanding for electricity ) .

In V dioxide , electrons were observed moving   together , like waves in a fluid , and not as discrete particles . This does n’t stop directional movement , so electricity flow well , but it trim the number of way electron can move chaotically , which have in mind the   cloth is a bad heat director .

This newfangled property , combine with the fact that vanadium dioxide absorbs infrared light when it reach a temperature of 60 ° C ( 140 ° F ) , makes the metal ideal for high - temperature applications .

" This textile could be used to help oneself stabilize temperature , " added atomic number 27 - writer Fan Yang , a postdoctoral researcher at Berkeley Lab ’s Molecular Foundry .   " By tuning its thermal conductivity , the fabric can efficiently and automatically dissipate warmth in the live summertime because it will have high caloric conductivity , but prevent heat energy loss in the cold winter because of its low thermal conduction at lower temperatures . "

metal vanadium dioxide is not quick to be commercialized just yet , but it ’s emphatically at the forefront of material that   might dramatically better our tech .