BEIJING: A group of Chinese scientists have discovered a new superconducting material that becomes active at relatively higher temperatures, in a big development in the search for more easily accessible superconductors.
Superconducting materials boast different useful properties, including zero electrical resistance, which means they allow the electrical currents’ free passage. when the materials are cooled below a certain low temperature—a transition temperature—usually below -230 degrees Celsius, according to Xinhua.
In the new study, published in the scientific journal Nature, the scientists observed a maximum transition temperature of eighty K (-193 degrees Celcius) in single crystals of La3Ni2O7 under up pressure.
Sun Yat-sen University’s researcher Wang Meng said that the new material is a nickelate and represents a second unconventional superconducting family that increases transition temperatures above 77 K after cuprates (containing copper).
Nickelate, cuprate superconductors
Both the nickelate and cuprate superconductors turn superconductive at a temperature level where nitrogen is in a liquid state. Liquid nitrogen can be manufactured at a low cost, thus enabling such superconductors to be used in more scenarios.
Although high-transition-temperature superconductivity in cuprates has been known for almost thirty years, the underlying mechanism remains a mystery. The new discovery provides additional areas for further research that could allow researchers to end that mystery, with big opportunities for technology.
