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However, some organic polymers exhibit electrical resistance many orders of magnitude lower than the best metallic conductors. And, they do this at room temperature!

Leoni reduces weight of wiring systems by 20 per cent

Aluminum wires for all power segments  Key factor for reducing the harnesses’ weight is the substitution of conventional copper wires. Besides copper wires with reduced cross-sections, Leoni mainly offers wires made of aluminum for all three power segments, i.e. with cross- section smaller than 2.5 mm2, up to 10mm2 and bigger. In spite of the fact that aluminum conductors have a higher cross-section in order to ensure the same electrical conductivity, the aIuminum technology allows a weight reduction of approximately 50 per cent compared to copper wires. The utilisation of aluminum products, wherever reasonable, will slim the wiring system’s weight by about 10 per cent.

We grow ultra-high mass density carbon nanotube forests at 450 °C on Ti-coated Cu supports using Co-Mo co-catalyst. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy shows Mo strongly interacts with Ti and Co, suppressing both aggregation and lifting off of Co particles and, thus, promoting the root growth mechanism. The forests average a height of 0.38 μm and a mass density of 1.6 g cm−3. This mass density is the highest reported so far, even at higher temperatures or on insulators. The forests and Cu supports show ohmic conductivity (lowest resistance ∼22 kΩ), suggesting Co-Mo is useful for applications requiring forest growth on conductors.

Another alternative is to use the reduction in specific weight offered by the Dyneema® fibres to incorporate more copper conductors, reducing voltage drop to achieve longer excursion lengths.

"The key difference is that with a normal conductor, the total resistance scales linearly with the length -- the longer the wire the larger the resistance," said Zhang. "But for stanene the only resistance is the contact, so the total resistance of a line is constant regardless of the wire's length."

It will focus on the production of aluminium rods and conductors for overhead transmission lines, and will supply mainly the cable manufacturing industry and utility sectors.

To make the best solar cells flexible, researchers have to find the best conductive materials. Such conductors are silver and indium tin oxide (ITO) nanowires, but they have several drawbacks. The copper nanowires made using a method invented by Duke University chemists, on the other hand, are cheaper than silver and better (read more conductive) than carbon nanotubes.

Scientists from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Sandia National Laboratories have added something new to a family of engineered, high-tech materials called metal-organic frameworks (MOFs): the ability to conduct electricity. This breakthrough—conductive MOFs—has the potential to make these already remarkable materials even more useful, particularly for detecting gases and toxic substances.

For one, the C7 core comprises seven (or more, depending on cable diameter) 3.2-mm/0.13-inch diameter strands of aerospace-grade carbon fiber pultruded with Fortron PPS (polyphenylene sulfide) from Celanese. The core is isolated from direct contact with the cable’s aluminum conductor strands by an overwrap of polyetheretherketone (PEEK), which protects the aluminum from galvanic corrosion and prevents abrasion of the core

Making such concepts affordable enough for general use remains a challenge but a new way of working with copper nanowires and a PVA “nano glue” could be a game-changer.

Much of the volatility in the cable market is tied to the raw material costs on the supply side. As a result, the pricing trends of cables and wires are not entirely driven by market demand. The market is also far from being homogenous, with the end user profiles ranging from wholesale purchasers, telecom operators, retail users, utility managers, power supply companies as well as enterprises. The leverage enjoyed by the buyers is by and large directly proportional to their off take and inversely proportional to the criticality of cables and wires to their operations. While the technology behind cables has remained consistent, it has not stayed static. As with most applied sciences, cables have witnessed a relentless stakeholder drive towards achieving better transmission with lesser resources. This has led to improvement and improvisations in the core conductor as well as its assembly technologies.

We also strongly believe that our ability to offer aluminum building wire has helped to increase our copper building wire sales over the last 2 years. Over the trailing four quarters, our copper unit sales are up 13% over the previous four quarters. We believe that is due in some part to the fact we now also offer aluminum wire. We continue to believe that copper will be the conductor of choice in most building wire applications, but we will offer aluminum to those customers who want it. We will continue to canvass our independent manufacturer's representatives and our electrical distributor customers, to determine what products they are purchasing that may make sense for us to produce and sell.

The rare earths high iron aluminum alloy material, developed by the company, mixes aluminum and some special materials, for example, rare earths to change the physical properties, which results a non-ferrous materials “revolution". The alloy cable enjoys three advantages, such as performance, it shows 35% more of percentage elongation,50% more of resisting fatigue strength, 40% less of inverse elasticity, 10 more years of service life and stronger antioxidant and corrosion resistance than those of copper wire, because of rare earths element added in conductor and better insulating material; safety, it is contributed to adding the patent fire retardants so that the alloy cable can still function for light even on fire; and cost, 40% less than that of copper wire.