Suppose you want to synthesize a solid that is both heat resistant and a good electrical conductor. What specific types of bonding and molecular interactions would you want in your starting materials?

Question

Suppose you want to synthesize a solid that is both heat resistant and a good electrical conductor.  What specific types of bonding and molecular interactions would you want in your starting materials?

anonymous · Answer

My answer is:
You want to wind up with a material that has ionic bonding or strong covalent bonds.  It should be a conductor, semi conductor or a solid electrolyte.  Alternatively, you could take a conductor and give it a heat resistant coating.

Does anyone have a better answer?

anonymous · Answer

good thinking........
could you mention some material that has ionic bonding or strong covalent bonds.

anonymous · Answer

anonymous · Answer

FYI, cubic zirconia and moissanite are used as diamond substitutes. $$ZrO_2 \hspace{20pt} SiC$$ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cubic_zirconia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moissanite Ruby and Sapphire are both corundum, but they have different impurities: $$Al_2O_3$$ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corundum http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapphire All of these were listed above in my previous post. Obviously, not all SiC is gemstone quality. Most is not. As far as I know, there is only one company in the world that makes gemstone quality SiC. http://www.charlesandcolvard.com/

anonymous · Answer

cooooooool

anonymous · Answer

among these which are conductors and which are semi conductors /solid electrolyte.

anonymous · Answer

So far as I can tell, solid electrolytes are ionic crystals with voids in the crystal lattice: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_ion_conductor So that rules out all of the covalent network solids. I don't know enough to say, but the substances with mixed bonds might not work either. Wikipedia mentions yttria-stabilized zirconia.$$ZrO_2 \space stabilized \space with \space Y_2O_3$$ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yttria-stabilized_zirconia It is interesting to note that cubic zirconia (cheap but heavy diamond substitute in jewelry) is:$$ZrO_2 \space stabilized \space with \space MgO\space or \space Y_2O_3\space or \space CaO \space or \space Ce_2O_3$$ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zirconium_dioxide So yttria-stablized zirconia is a flavor of cubic zirconia, if the crystal structure is cubic. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cubic_crystal_system The problem I had with this problem is that a lot of thermal insulators are also poor conductors. Perhaps the "correct" answer is actually a metal or alloy with a high melting point. Ie, a refractory metal. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refractory_metals I think iridium, rhenium, and titanium are my favorite refractory metals. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhenium http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanium http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iridium Although platinum and palladium are not refractory metals, I like all of the platinum group metals. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platinum_group_metals

anonymous · Answer

Run a cost analysis of this substance, feasibility of production/ availability/ and possible hazzards.
then summerise.
you will make the best answer for this question.

anonymous · Answer

Thanks for the help.  At this point I'm pretty confident I know what is going in this problem.