Exploring the bounds of room-temperature superconductivity

Date:
March 9, 2022
Source:
University of Houston
Summary:
There are a few superconducting material systems for electric
transmission in various stages of development. In the meantime,
researchers are conducting experiments to look for superconductivity
in a room-temperature and atmospheric pressure environment.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
In the simplest terms, superconductivity between two or more objects
means zero wasted electricity. It means electricity is being transferred between these objects with no loss of energy.


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Many naturally occurring elements and minerals like lead and mercury
have superconducting properties. And there are modern applications
that currently use materials with superconducting properties, including
MRI machines, maglev trains, electric motors and generators. Usually, superconductivity in materials happens at low-temperature environments
or at high temperatures at very high pressures. The holy grail
of superconductivity today is to find or create materials that can
transfer energy between each other in a non-pressurized room-temperature environment.

If the efficiency of superconductors at room temperature could be applied
at scale to create highly efficient electric power transmission systems
for industry, commerce, and transportation, it would be revolutionary. The deployment of the technology of room temperature superconductors at
atmospheric pressure would accelerate the electrification of our world for
its sustainable development. The technology allows us to do more work and
use less natural resources with lower waste to preserve the environment.

There are a few superconducting material systems for electric
transmission in various stages of development. In the meantime,
researchers at the University of Houston are conducting experiments
to look for superconductivity in a room- temperature and atmospheric
pressure environment.

Paul Chu, founding director and chief scientist at the Texas Center for Superconductivity at UH and Liangzi Deng, research assistant professor,
chose FeSe (Iron (II) Selenide) for their experiments because it has a
simple structure and also great Tc (superconducting critical temperature) enhancement under pressure.

Chu and Deng have developed a pressure-quench process (PQP), in which
they first apply pressure to their samples at room-temperature to
enhance superconductivity, cool them to a chosen lower temperature,
and then completely release the applied pressure, while still retaining
the enhanced superconducting properties.

The concept of the PQP is not new, but Chu and Deng's PQP is the first
time it's been used to retain the high-pressure-enhanced superconductivity
in a high-temperature superconductor (HTS) at atmospheric pressure. The findings are published in the Journal of Superconductivity and Novel
Magnetism.

"We waste about 10% of our electricity during transmission, that's a
huge number. If we had superconductors to transmit electricity with
zero energy wasted, we would basically change the world, transportation
and electricity transmission would be revolutionized, "Chu said. "If
this process can be used, we can create materials that could transmit electricity from the place where you produce it all the way to places
thousands of miles away without the loss of energy." Their process was inspired by the late Pol Duwez, a prominent material scientist, engineer
and metallurgist at the California Institute of Technology who pointed out
that most of the alloys used in industrial applications are metastable
or chemically unstable at atmospheric pressure and room temperature,
and these metastable phases possess desired and/or enhanced properties
that their stable counterparts lack, Chu and Deng noted in their study.

Examples of these materials include diamonds, high-temperature 3D-printing materials, black phosphorus and even beryllium copper, which is notably
used to make tools for use in high explosive environments like oil rigs
and grain elevators.

"The ultimate goal of this experiment was to raise the temperature to
above room temperature while keeping the material's superconducting properties," Chu said. "If that can be achieved, cryogenics will no
longer be needed to operate machines that used superconducting material
like an MRI machine and that's why we're excited about this."

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Houston. Note: Content
may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. C. W. Chu, L. Z. Deng, Z. Wu. The Retention and Study of
High-Pressure-
Induced Phases in High- and Room-Temperature
Superconductors. Journal of Superconductivity and Novel Magnetism,
2022; DOI: 10.1007/s10948-021- 06117-0 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/03/220309154834.htm

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