Nature Nanotechnol. doi:10.1038/nnano.2010.27 (2010)

The plastic polyethylene is used in a wide range of products, from shopping bags to water pipes. One place it doesn't appear is in heat exchangers, which dissipate heat and are essential components of devices such as refrigerators and air conditioners. That's because, in its bulk form, the plastic can conduct only a paltry amount of heat. Bulk polymers typically conduct only around 0.1 watts per metre-kelvin.

Gang Chen and his colleagues at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge have markedly improved that figure using thin fibres of polyethylene. They created the fibres by stretching strands of polyethylene gel with a sharp tungsten tip. The 50–500-nanometre-wide strands act as conduits, conducting heat at rates as high as 104 watts per metre-kelvin — a rate similar to that of many metals. Chen and his team believe the work could lead to low-cost plastic replacements for some metal components.