Scientists at Rice University have created a new material that could one day lead to faster, more powerful, and more energy-saving electronics.
This breakthrough material, called a Kramers nodal line metal, behaves in unique ways at the quantum level and may help build the next generation of sustainable technology.
The research team, led by physicists Ming Yi and Emilia Morosan, discovered this new material by adding a small amount of indium—a soft metal—to an existing layered compound made from tantalum and sulfur, known as TaS₂.
This tiny change caused a major transformation in the material’s crystal structure. As a result, electrons inside the material started behaving in unusual and useful ways.
In the new structure, electrons that spin in one direction move along a different path than those spinning in the opposite direction. These separate paths eventually meet at what scientists call a Kramers nodal line.
This special arrangement is protected by the material’s symmetry, and it gives the material unique electronic properties that could be harnessed in advanced electronics.
Even more exciting, the material also showed signs of superconductivity—meaning it can conduct electricity without losing energy as heat.
This is a rare and highly desirable feature for technologies like high-performance computers, energy grids, and quantum devices.
Having both the unusual electron behavior and superconductivity in the same material could make it possible to build something called a topological superconductor, a powerful type of material that scientists believe could transform computing and power systems.
Creating this new material was no easy task. The research team had to try different chemical compositions and use highly advanced tools to study how the electrons moved and behaved.
One technique, called spin-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, allowed the scientists to see how the electrons’ energy and spin changed as they moved through the material.
To back up their experimental findings, the researchers also used powerful computer models that simulate how electrons behave in new materials. The results matched, giving them confidence in their discovery.
According to the team, this is just the beginning. Now that they’ve shown how to create a Kramers nodal line metal with superconducting properties, they hope to explore more versions of this material and unlock even more amazing behaviors.
Their work is a major step forward in the search for efficient and powerful materials that could one day power greener, smarter electronics.
As doctoral researcher Yuxiang Gao put it, “There’s still so much to discover, and we’re excited to see where this new path will lead.”
