Mr Carey made his discovery when he was testing the properties of a material made of carbon nanotubes (cylinders of carbon atoms a few billionths of a metre across) and a rubbery polymer called polydimethylsiloxane.

凯利在测试一种材料的属性时有所发现，该材料的成分包含碳纳米管（直径为几纳米的碳原子圆柱体）和一种名为聚二甲基硅氧烷的橡胶聚合物。