That’s only the beginning of bucky ball’s talents. Last week, in the journal Nature, researchers led by Arthur Hebard of AT&T Bell Labs reported that when bucky balls are spiked with potassium, they carry electricity with no resistance, even at temperatures above where most such “superconductors” work. Although applications are years away, finding a superconductor with the composition and structure of the bucky ball is “remarkable and unanticipated,” says Arthur Sleight, a leading superconductivity researcher at Oregon State University, It thus promises to rekindle interest in high-temperature superconductors, which has cooled since their red-hot debut in 1987.
The discovery should also spark interest in the electric properties of these molecules. Bucky balls absorb and release electrons without suffering any damage. They are thus a good candidate for storing power; compared with heavy, inefficient lead-acid batteries, the kind in today’s cars, they are light and nearly inexhaustible. Bucky Fuller would be proud.
