Laptop computer users operating their devices on their laps will be familiar with the heat they generate,which comes from electrical resistance converting waste energy to heat. Scientists dream of creating electronic devices with tiny or no resistance to the flow of electricity, in order to reduce heat output, or save energy,and extend device capabilities. In the final several years theorists and experimentalists have been trying to achieve this goal using extremely thin materials with special physical properties, called topological insulators (TIs). Recently there has been a breakthrough towards this goal: Dissipationless flow of current has been achieved in TIs when it enters a quantum state without any external magnetic fields—although, or as of now,only at extremely low temperatures, its potential can be meaningful if the operating temperature could be raised.
Source: phys.org