A giant molecular bauble, by far the largest single-molecule metal-cluster ever made, is confounding chemists. Involving almost 500 silver atoms, the crystals are so large and complex that their creators cannot figure out their structure.
University of Arizona physicists have discovered that "super crystals" -- crystals which are hundreds to thousands times larger than conventional crystals -- exist in certain organic semiconducting solids. Pure super-crystalline organic semiconductors will conduct electricity much differently than conventional solids. Super-crystalline semiconductors, for example, could create splashes of current on electrical contacts, even in a uniform electric field, say UA physicist Andrei Lebed and graduate student Si Wu.