Room Temperature Superconductivity Breakthrough
The quest for materials which exhibit Superconductivity at room temperature is the ‘holy grail’ for research scientists. Incredibly, it appears that at least one team of researchers has found it.
A recent report in Nature describes a Room-Temperature Superconductivity breakthrough by a team at the University of Rochester and the University of Las Vegas, Nevada.
A superconductive material is one in which there is basically no resistance flow of electric current. This means that there is no power loss as a current travels through a circuit.
Until now, achieving superconductivity in materials was only possible at extremely low temperatures. This has made them impractical for use in today’s tech. This breakthrough however, could change everything.
The research team is led by physicists Ranga Dias and Ashkan Salamat of the University of Rochester and UNLV respectively. Their research is being funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).
“It’s a game changer,” said Salamat.
“The discovery is new, and the technology is in its infancy and a vision of tomorrow, but the possibilities are endless. This could revolutionize the energy grid and change every device that’s electronically driven.”
Instead of using ultra low temperatures (close to -273 Celsius) to achieve superconductivity, the teams did it with pressure. Extremely high pressure – similar to the crushing pressure near the Earth’s core.
The researchers are still at an early stage in their work. But if they can continue to see success as they try to use less or no pressure, a whole new wave of technological advances lies ahead.
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