Electronic chips could see a radical reduction in size thanks to the creation of a new type of carbon molecule that conducts electricity in only one direction.

Created by a team of scientists from the US, Belgium, Germany and Ukraine, the molecule is a combination of football-shaped buckminsterfullerenes – also known as buckyballs – and diamond-shaped diamondoids.

Dubbed buckydiamondoids, the unconventional molecules could be the key to tiny yet high-powered electronic devices such as ultrathin smartphones, hidden-in-plain-sight activity trackers and compact but powerful wearable technologies.

The nanometer-sized buckydiamondoids would function as current-steering rectifiers in electronic circuits, replacing the role of diodes and enabling entire electronic components to be downscaled significantly.

Individually the carbon forms that make buckydiamondoids have some unique properties of their own, making them popular targets of research. However, until now buckyballs and diamondoids have not been combined in this way.

“We wanted to see what new, emergent properties might come out when you put these two ingredients together to create a ‘buckydiamondoid,'” said Hari Manoharan of the Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences (SIMES) at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.

“What we got was a basically a one-way valve for conducting electricity – clearly more than the sum of its parts.”

By combining the two components, the researchers produced very strong one-directional electricity flow – fifty times stronger than current flow in the other direction – giving the molecule excellent potential for real-world use.

Other molecular rectifiers have previously been developed, but this is the first to be made of just carbon and hydrogen, making it simpler and potentially cheaper to construct.

“Buckyballs are easy to make – they can be isolated from soot – and the type of diamondoid we used here, which consists of two tiny cages, can be purchased commercially,” said Manoharan.

The researchers are now planning to see if transistors – the part of an electrical circuit responsible for switching the current on and off – can also be made from just carbon and hydrogen.

If successful, the technology could be the start of cheap but minute electrical circuits, transforming tech as we know it.

Electronics could be subtly embedded into everyday items, potentially creating a trend for ever-present technology hidden in non-technical objects.

Such downsizing of circuits could also be significant for wearable technology as it would enable computers to be embedded into clothes without the lumpy components currently employed, and would finally allow technologies such as smart glasses to be worn without resembling Dilbert’s inept colleague Wally.

Images courtesy of SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.