Solid ion conductors or superionic conductors (or fast ion conductors) can be thought of as naturally occurring molecular gates. Such materials display high mobility of one ion species in a compound, thus conducting electricity by means of this mobile ion species. The mobile species is often described as forming a ‘molten’ sub-lattice within the framework lattice of the other species. The diffusion coefficient and mobility for this species attain the values seen only in liquids. Superionic conductors display conductivities of the order of 10-1 to 10-2 (ohm · cm) -1 at room temperatures.

Due to their high value of ionic conductivity as well as their ability to selectively transport ionic species, superionic conductors have successfully been employed as solid electrolytes in applications like battery and fuel cells.

In this research, we look at exploiting the selectivity and controllability of ion transport by applied electric fields to create a manufacturing process. Specifically, we attempt to use ionic conductors in which the mobile species is a metal to manufacture metal nanostructures.