Room-temperature superconductor: Is the Holy Grail within grasp?

Source: The post is based on the article “Room-temperature superconductor: Is the Holy Grail within grasp?”  published in Livemint on 31st July 2023.

What is the News?

Korean researchers have claimed to have developed a superconductor that can operate at room temperature and ambient pressure.

What is a Superconductor?

A superconductor is a material that achieves superconductivity, which is a state of matter that has no electrical resistance and does not allow magnetic fields to penetrate. An electric current in a superconductor can persist indefinitely.

Superconductors have important applicability in our daily lives, too. In 1933, Walther Meissner and Robert Ochsenfeld discovered that superconductors are also perfect diamagnets (they repel magnetic fields, known as the Meissner effect), making them ideal for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). 

However, superconductivity can only typically be achieved at very cold temperatures.

Researchers are now trying to find and develop superconductors that could operate at room temperature.

How will the room temperature superconductors help?

The temperature of a superconductor known as the critical temperature, is typically below 10 Kelvin (-263 degrees Celsius). Room temperature is 20-22°C.

Hence, superconductors at room temperature can cut the cost of electricity grids, computer chips, magnets for maglev trains, energy-storage devices and fusion reactors by saving electricity and money on coolants.

What have the researchers developed?

Researchers have claimed to have developed a superconductor called LK-99, that works at room temperature and ambient pressure.

LK-99 is a mix of powdered compounds of lead, oxygen, sulphur and phosphorus. When heated at very high temperatures, it forms a dark grey solid. 

If these results can be replicated in other labs, it could be a monumental discovery.

However, other researchers are skeptical as this research is not peer-reviewed and the results need to be replicated by others.

How can computing get benefitted from this research?

Computers process information with bits—ones and zeroes. But two bits can only represent one of four possible states at one time.

Superconductors are the building blocks of quantum computers that use quantum bits, or qubits, to process ones and zeroes at the same time — it’s like running four computers in one. The physical qubits are typically super-cooled to avoid errors.

This research could get them to work at room temperature and ambient pressure without the need for elaborate cooling systems.