The xerogel made from decomposing liquid metal-ammonia solutions—A solid material which carries current densities of 10 5 A cm −2 at room temperature

Abstract

Decomposing liquid lithium-ammonia and sodium-ammonia solutions are high-conducting in some critically decomposed states, in which they form a gel with capillaries of the non-decomposed solution extending one-dimensionally through a sponge-like network of the decomposition product (alkali amide). The solutions may be stabilized at room temperature in their critically decomposed state if the ammonia is swept out of the capillaries of the gel in order to inhibit any further decomposition reaction. The xerogel, which retains the reduced structural dimensionality of the gel, can carry current densities of 10 5 A cm −2.