Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have recently discovered that by dissolving certain metals into silicon, they can add that silicon compound to the relatively short list of exotic substances that exhibit retrograde melting. Their accomplishment could ultimately result in less expensive solar cells and electronic devices.
The team started by creating a “sandwich”, made from two thin sheets of silicon on the outside, and a mixture of copper, iron and nickel between them. This was heated to a point that was below the normal melting point of silicon, but high enough to cause the filling to dissolve, thus causing the silicon to become supersaturated with the metals.
This means manufacturers could use less pure, less expensive grades of silicon for items such as solar cells or electronics, and purify them in the production process, the MIT team says.
