'Unconventional' Nickel Superconductor Excites Physicists (nature.com) 10
A new family of superconductors is exciting physicists. Compounds containing nickel have been shown to carry electricity without resistance at the relatively high temperature of 45 kelvin (-228C) -- and without being squeezed under pressure. Nature: Physicists at the Southern University of Science and Technology (Sustech) in Shenzhen, China, observed the major hallmarks of superconductivity in a thin film of crystals of nickel oxide, which they grew in the laboratory. They published their work in Nature on 17 February. "There's a huge hope that we could eventually raise the critical temperature and make [such materials] more useful for applications," says Dafeng Li, a physicist at the City University of Hong Kong.
Nickelates now join two groups of ceramics -- copper-based cuprates and iron-based pnictides -- as 'unconventional superconductors' that operate at room pressure and temperatures as high as 150K (-123C). This new data point could help physicists to finally explain how high-temperature superconductors work, and ultimately to design materials that operate under ambient conditions. This would make technologies, such as magnetic resonance imaging, radically cheaper and more efficient.
How unconventional superconductors operate at warmer temperatures remains largely a mystery, whereas the mechanism behind how some metals can carry electricity without resistance at colder temperatures, or extreme pressures, has been understood since 1957. The ability of the Sustech researchers to precisely engineer the material's properties is huge boon in trying to use nickelates to unravel the theory behind unconventional superconductivity, says Lilia Boeri, a physicist at the Sapienza University of Rome. "The idea that you have a system that you can sort of tune experimentally, is something quite exciting."
Nickelates now join two groups of ceramics -- copper-based cuprates and iron-based pnictides -- as 'unconventional superconductors' that operate at room pressure and temperatures as high as 150K (-123C). This new data point could help physicists to finally explain how high-temperature superconductors work, and ultimately to design materials that operate under ambient conditions. This would make technologies, such as magnetic resonance imaging, radically cheaper and more efficient.
How unconventional superconductors operate at warmer temperatures remains largely a mystery, whereas the mechanism behind how some metals can carry electricity without resistance at colder temperatures, or extreme pressures, has been understood since 1957. The ability of the Sustech researchers to precisely engineer the material's properties is huge boon in trying to use nickelates to unravel the theory behind unconventional superconductivity, says Lilia Boeri, a physicist at the Sapienza University of Rome. "The idea that you have a system that you can sort of tune experimentally, is something quite exciting."
Sus? (Score:4, Funny)
The fact that they're named "sus-tech" makes this tech feel strangely... sus.
Fusion should be next (Score:4, Insightful)
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Uhh
https://www.wvnews.com/news/ar... [wvnews.com]
https://cfs.energy/news-and-me... [cfs.energy]
Re:Fusion should be next (Score:5, Informative)
We have articles about superconductors, new battery technology.. fusion should be next. all things that will happen in the next 10 years, for about 50 years now.
Superconductors have improved though, an they've been used for practical purposes for decades now. MRI machines were first invented in the early 1970s using superconductors then available. And as the tech improved they went from being one of the most expensive possible medical scanners to the point where there are now some in developing countries (albeit limited in number). Superconductors being used in the regular electric are also happening. The first was the Holbrook project https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holbrook_Superconductor_Project [wikipedia.org] in 2008, but now there are multiple others.
Similar remarks apply to batteries. Battery efficiency has gone up massively in the last few decades. This is on a whole bunch of different metrics for battery efficiency, such as energy density, number of cycles, cost per a kilowatt-hour, and others. https://rmi.org/the-rise-of-batteries-in-six-charts-and-not-too-many-numbers/ [rmi.org] https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/05/eternally-five-years-away-no-batteries-are-improving-under-your-nose/ [arstechnica.com]. And what's even better is that we have so many different battery chemistries now available that we can often choose a specific battery profile to optimize for a specific purpose. For example, phones need high specific energy density and a lot of cycles, but don't need really high maximum output or fast charging time. But charging speed matters more for cars. One big consequence of this massive increase in battery power has been the rise of EVs. But another big consequence is the rise of drones. All the drones you see now are dependent on a combination of very small electronics and really high energy density batteries.
For fusion power, you are more correct that it remains outside current ability. But that's largely due to a lack of funding https://x.com/ben_j_todd/status/1541389506015858689/photo/1 [x.com]. Despite that, fusion power continues to improve. The real question is not at this point, will we have fusion in a few years, but will it be cost competitive with the very cheap solar and wind power.
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It is because of these kinds of posts that I keep coming back to slashdot. The news? Usually not so interesting. But some comments are gold!
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We have articles about superconductors, new battery technology.. fusion should be next. all things that will happen in the next 10 years, for about 50 years now.
Based on the past 50 years I can confidently say fusion will be practical within 20 years of my death.
Thin films...how much current? (Score:4, Interesting)
A high temperature superconductor could be extremely useful, but ... each variation seems to have it's own limitations. This one is a thin film, and the summary, at least, gave no indication of how much current was being transmitted. I've got to suspect it was extremely limited. There also wasn't any mention of the voltage. So it may only be a superconductor up to, say, 1.5 volts and 0.5 microampere.
Of course, I'm being a both a bit credulous and a bit skeptical. Lots of new "superconductor discoveries" aren't repeatable, so perhaps it's a fluke or an error. But I'm also presuming that if they aren't loudly trumpeting some capability then it isn't present. Both assumptions are questionable.