Short Article

28-10-2023 | 17:42 PM

Metal-insulator transition (MIT)

Scientists have found the reason behind how certain materials can change from being good conductors of electricity (metallic) to insulators (materials in which electric current does not flow freely).

Key Highlights:

• Scientists have found the reason behind how certain materials can change from being good conductors of electricity (metallic) to insulators.
• They used one of the metal-insulator transition(MIT) materials called chromium nitride (CrN) to demonstrate this.
• They have found that the magnetic stress caused by the arrangement of atoms in a material can be the reason for this transition of materials from metallic to insulators.
• These findings can lead to a better understanding of how different factors like magnetism, electrical charge, and atomic arrangement work together in materials.
• It could also help us discover new materials that can switch between being conductors and insulators.

About Metal-insulator transition (MIT):

• Normally, materials are either good at conducting electricity (metallic) or they block it (insulators).
• But some special materials can switch between these two states when we change things like temperature or pressure. This switching is known as a metalinsulator transition (MIT).
• This phenomenon was first discovered in magnetite in 1939.