Lucky find! How science behind epidemics helped Sussex physicists to develop state-of-the-art conductive paint

Schematic of the structure of the film with graphene oxide trapped between polymer latex sphere In new research published in Nature Communications , University of Sussex scientists demonstrate how a highly conductive paint coating that they have developed mimics the network spread of a virus through a process called 'explosive percolation' - a mathematical process which can also be applied to population growth, financial systems and computer networks, but which has not been seen before in materials systems. The finding was a serendipitous development as well as a scientific first for the researchers. The process of percolation - the statistical connectivity in a system, such as when water flows through soil or through coffee grounds - is an important component in the development of liquid technology. And it was that process which researchers in the University of Sussex Material Physics group were expecting to see when they added graphene oxide to polymer latex spheres, such as those used in emulsion paint, to make a polymer composite. But when they gently heated the graphene oxide to make it electrically conductive, the scientists kick-started a process that saw this conductive system grow exponentially, to the extent that the new material created consumed the network, similar to the way a new strain of a virus can become dominant. This emergent material behaviour led to a new highly-conductive paint solution that, because graphene oxide is a cheap and easy to mass produce nanomaterial, is both one of the most affordable and most conductive low-loading composites reported.