New Room-Temperature Superconductor Offers Tantalizing Possibilities

NYT SCIENCE: New Room-Temperature Superconductor Offers Tantalizing Possibilities

By Kenneth Chang
Section: Science
Source: New York Times
Published Date: March 8, 2023 at 02:00AM

The breakthrough could one day transform technologies that use electric energy, but it comes from a team facing doubts after a retracted paper on superconductors.

Scientists announced this week a tantalizing advance toward the dream of a material that could effortlessly convey electricity in everyday conditions. Such a breakthrough could transform almost any technology that uses electric energy, opening new possibilities for your phone, magnetically levitating trains and future fusion power plants.
Usually, the flow of electricity encounters resistance as it moves through wires, almost like a form of friction, and some energy is lost as heat. A century ago, physicists discovered materials, now called superconductors, where the electrical resistance seemingly magically disappeared. But these materials only lost their resistance at unearthly, ultracold temperatures, which limited practical applications. For decades, scientists have sought superconductors that work at room temperatures.
This week’s announcement is the latest attempt in that effort, but it comes from a team that faces wide skepticism because a 2020 paper that described a promising but less practical superconducting material was retracted after other scientists questioned some of the data.
The new superconductor consists of lutetium, a rare earth metal, and hydrogen with a little bit of nitrogen mixed in. It needs to be compressed to a pressure of 14,500 pounds per square inch before it gains its superconducting prowess. That is about 10 times the pressure that is exerted at the bottom of the ocean’s deepest trenches.

Read More at: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/08/science/room-temperature-superconductor-ranga-dias.html