Inspenet, July 31, 2023.
A team of South Korean researchers has announced a historic milestone: they created the first superconductor at room temperature.
For years, scientists from Spain and around the world have been working on the creation of amazing new materials. Now, South Korean researchers claim to have achieved a significant achievement by developing the first superconductor that can operate at room temperature and pressure .
This new material called LK-99 is based on a copper-doped lead apatite structure that makes it easy to fabricate using common and abundant chemical elements. The announcement of this achievement has generated quite a stir in the scientific community due to the potential implications that this superconductor at room temperature and pressure could have in different areas of science and technology.
The LK-99 could represent a revolution in various fields, especially electricity distribution. Being a superconductor, it could eliminate energy losses that currently occur due to the resistance of the cables used, which could mean savings of millions of euros every year.
The South Korean scientists made this progress known by publishing their project on the ArXiv repository, a platform where the research community shares their work before it is reviewed and published in scientific journals. This discovery has the potential to significantly transform various industries.
The stir caused by the LK-99
Several experts from the SMC (Science Media Center) in the UK have responded to the excitement this groundbreaking material has caused, offering their perspectives on its revolutionary impact.
Amalia Coldea, Associate Professor of Quantum Materials at the University of Oxford, says that “witnessing the discoveries of a newly synthesized quantum material is very exciting, as nature reveals new phenomena that need to be understood.”
Coldea states that “initial observations always require diligent verification and reproducibility following the scientific method. We live in a time when, more than ever, reliable and trustworthy investigations are critical to the progress of science.”
He also notes that a manuscript on potent superconductivity at room temperature has recently been released and “although the results are potentially exciting, presentation and analysis need to be improved and all measurements verified. Only when the experimental results are verified by many research groups will everyone will be ready to embrace the much-sought room-temperature superconductivity.”
For his part, Toby Perring, Principal Scientist at the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) Isis Neutron and Muon Source, said: “If substantiated, this would certainly be a very exciting discovery. Of course, extraordinary claims require proof. extraordinary and it is important that the independent peer review process of the authors’ submissions to the preprint server is followed For the discovery to be accepted, other research groups must be able to synthesize the material and reproduce superconductivity at room temperature “.
Susannah Speller, Professor of Materials Science at Oxford University and Chris Grovenor, Professor of Materials at Oxford University, also say the material “is interesting, but still not entirely convincing. The data presented, which shows a in bulk resistivity, suggest an abrupt phase transition around 100 °C, but it is not clear if this is the result of the formation of a superconducting state.An equally abrupt transition in the magnetization signal would be expected at same temperature if a significant volume of the sample had become superconducting, as well as an anomaly in specific heat capacity.”
They even state that none of these features are evident in the data presented in the study, “so it is too early to say that we have been presented with convincing evidence of superconductivity in these samples.”
For his part, Mohammad Yazdani-Asrami, Professor at the James Watt School of Engineering at the University of Glasgow, points out that “a superconductor at room temperature that works at ambient pressure would be one of the holy grails of modern physics and would allow great advances in the fields of energy, transportation, health and communications”.
However, he also notes that the paper has not yet been peer-reviewed or tested in other labs “to see if its results can be reproduced by other researchers. If the claims of the findings are approved, it may be one of the achievements most significant in recent decades in materials physics and engineering”.
Last to give his opinion was Stuart Bradley, Principal Engineer (Power Electronics and Electrical Machines), WMG from the University of Warwick, who says that “there are some considerations to take into account for this research. For example, it is not clear how electrical frequency affects resistance.
Bradley also says that “the research has many implications. Superconductivity at room temperature and pressure would allow the system to transport electricity to be smaller and possibly cheaper and the conduction losses would be zero, thus improving efficiency. This would allow increased electrification within the UK, but also much greater interconnection between nations to import zero carbon renewable energy.” He even explains that advances in this could also help make electrical machines, such as wind turbine generators, more efficient and smaller.
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