Superconductivity-like electron pair formation in molecules discovered
Friday, November 9, 2012 - 08:31
in Physics & Chemistry
(Phys.org)—Usually, electrons try to avoid each other due to their electrostatic repulsion. On occasion, however, they can form a pair which has long been known in superconductivity called a "Cooper pair," named after the physicist who first described them. In work published in Physical Review Letters, researchers from the Wehlitz group at SRC outline their discovery that electrons can form pairs in some aromatic molecules as small as benzene. A benzene molecule consists of only 6 carbon atoms in a ring with one hydrogen atom attached to each of them.