“Editor's note: […] At the risk of being stood up at the altar of the scientific method yet again, and understanding the duty to inform the community, here is a cautious summary of the paper guided by some social media commentary — along with an earnest hope for peer review and an entreaty to not shoot the messenger even as I hear a round slide into the chamber.”
And who's to say investigations like this won't lead to some OTHER unexpected discovery. Wouldn't be the first time a researcher was looking for A but stumbled onto B.
Possible Meissner effect near room temperature in
copper-substituted lead apatite
Hongyang Wang1∗
, Yao Yao2†
, Ke Shi3
, Yijing Zhao3
, Hao
Wu4
, Zhixing Wu5
, Zhihui Geng6
, Shufeng Ye1
, and Ning Chen7
1 Center of Materials Science and Optoelectronics Engineering,
Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
2 State Key Laboratory of Luminescent Materials and Devices and Department of Physics,
South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China
3 Beijing 2060 Technology Co., Ltd, Beijing 100084, China
4 School of Materials Science and Engineering,
Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China
5 Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Analysis and Detection Technology for Food safety,
College of Chemistry, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou 350108, China
6 School of Engineering, Course of Applied Science,
Tokai University, Hiratsuka 2591292, Japan
7 School of Materials Science and Engineering,
University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China
(Dated: January 3, 2024)
"In summary, the diamagnetism in CSLA has been investigated via both M-T curves and
hysteresis M-H loops, which can be observed up to 250 K. Given the ZFC-FC bifurcation
at above 300 K, we think there is still great chance to observe room-temperature superconductivity. The signals in our sample are still extremely weak, so we have to devote efforts
to further synthesizing scalable samples with more active components."
“The X-ray diffraction (XRD) data for the sample undergoes refinement using the Reflex module in Materials Studio, aligning with the P63/m structure characteristics of apatite, as illustrated in Fig. 4. However, a slight discrepancy is noted in the range of 25–27° and 30-40°, potentially originated from a minor presence of residual oxide. Despite an extended period of roasting under a pure oxygen atmosphere, the interference from cuprous sulfide still persists, attributed to the intentional addition of sulfur elements during synthesis. Complete elimination of this interference remains challenging.
In summary, the diamagnetism in CSLA has been investigated via both M-T curves and hysteresis M-H loops, which can be observed up to 250 K. Given the ZFC-FC bifurcation at above 300 K, we think there is still great chance to observe room-temperature superconductivity. The signals in our sample are still extremely weak, so we have to devote efforts to further synthesizing scalable samples with more active components.”
But there’s lots of applications - computers that are orders of magnitude faster and use way less energy, maglev trains that are orders of magnitude cheaper. Think about how as electronics got cheaper they permeated nearly every aspect to the point that cheapo $20 gadgets probably have a simple microcontroller instead of an analog circuit. Room temperature semiconductors would be a material science breakthrough that would permeate every aspect of our lives within ~40 tears similar to how semiconductors did in the 1960s (assuming we got better and cheaper at manufacturing it at scale which would be the next challenge after confirmation).
That being said, I think it’s something we should remain hyper skeptical about as a prior because of the low likelihood and how difficult it is to verify superconductance (because the samples are so small they have to use roundabout techniques to establish it like the Meisner effect that can be confused with other properties because measuring 0 resistance itself is even harder and more error prone).
Saving five percent (US) to thirty percent (generic less-developed country) of generated power in T&D losses.
There isn't any obviously-orders-of-magnitude-better application for room-temp-and-pressure superconductors apart from MRI scanners, and those aren't things that the average person would use every day, or even every week, even if they came in cereal boxes.
A ceramic would make a crappy wire. Being flexible is a useful feature for long distances. What you save in transmission loss ends up on maintenance of an expensive brittle material.
"In summary, while the research offers some indications of room-temperature superconductivity in CSLA, the absence of a complete Meissner effect and direct dc hysteresis observations necessitate a cautious approach to these findings."
