As we all know, metals and graphite, etc. can conduct electricity and are conductors; while glass, ceramics, and plastics are usually non-conductive and are insulators. The various wires we see in our daily lives are made with metal wires like copper and aluminum in the middle, which are wrapped in plastic. This is because plastic is a very good insulator, so using it to wrap wires can prevent electrical leakage.
Metal conductors are electrically conductive because there are free electrons in metals, which can move from one atom to another at any time, forming an electrical current path. Graphite is a substance composed of carbon atoms, and the carbon atoms in graphite release electrons that can move freely. As can be seen from the structural model of graphite crystals, each carbon atom in graphite has three chemical bonds on the same plane (one carbon atom can form four chemical bonds), so each carbon atom can provide a freely movable electron, which is why graphite can conduct electricity. Similarly, diamond, which is also composed of carbon atoms, does not conduct electricity because the arrangement of carbon atoms in diamond is different from that in graphite, and each carbon atom has four chemical bonds without any free electrons. It seems that if the arrangement and structure of various atoms and molecules in materials are changed to produce free electrons, non-conductive materials may become conductive. Conductive plastics have been developed based on this principle. Now scientists have synthesized a variety of structurally conductive plastics that allow electrons to flow freely.
In addition, chemists have combined non-conductive plastics with conductive substances to create conductive composite materials. The production process of conductive composite materials is simple, and the products are cost-effective. Most of the conductive plastics currently developed are composite materials. The substances filled in these composite materials mainly include metals and graphite, etc.
Today, the application of conductive plastics in anti-static, anti-electromagnetic screens for computers, and smart windows has developed rapidly, and it also has broad application prospects in fields such as light-emitting diodes, solar cells, mobile phones, miniature TV screens, and life science research. With conductive plastics, it will be possible to greatly improve the computing speed of computers and reduce the size of computers. Perhaps in the future, laptops could be small enough to fit into watches!