Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, California 94305, USA.
Nat Chem. 2011 Oct 24;3(11):845-9. doi: 10.1038/nchem.1171.
Electrical charges on the boundaries of topological insulators favour forward motion over back-scattering at impurities, producing low-dissipation, metallic states that exist up to room temperature in ambient conditions. These states have the promise to impact a broad range of applications from electronics to the production of energy, which is one reason why topological insulators have become the rising star in condensed-matter physics. There are many challenges in the processing of these exotic materials to use the metallic states in functional devices, and they present great opportunities for the chemistry and materials science research communities.
拓扑绝缘体边界上的电荷有利于在杂质处向前运动而不是向后散射，从而产生低损耗、金属态，在环境条件下室温下即可存在。这些状态有望从电子学应用到能源生产等各个领域产生影响，这也是拓扑绝缘体成为凝聚态物理领域后起之秀的原因之一。在处理这些奇异材料以在功能器件中利用金属态方面存在许多挑战，这为化学和材料科学研究界提供了巨大的机会。
