By Will Lucas
Researchers at the University of Rochester may have made a groundbreaking discovery at the interface of physics, chemistry, and materials science. The research team, led by Dr. Ranga Dias, claims to have created a material that exhibits superconductivity at a temperature and pressure practical for industrial applications. The material, which superconductors at a temperature of sixty-nine degrees fahrenheit and a pressure of ten kilobars, or about 145,000 psi, is called a nitrogen-doped lutetium hydride (NDLH), but it has been affectionately dubbed “reddmatter” by the team due to its striking color at ambient pressure. Superconducting materials are able to conduct electricity without any energy loss.
Though the superconductive pressure of 145,000 psi may sound high (ambient pressure at sea level is only about fifteen psi), it is over one hundred times less pressure than previous similarly structured superconductors have required. The pressure is easily achievable with various engineering techniques already utilized in the study and application of superconducting materials. “If it turns out to be correct,” James Hamlin of the University of Florida declared, “it’s possibly the biggest breakthrough in the history of superconductivity.” Superconductors, prized for their efficient conductive capabilities, have broad applications in many of the most significant concepts in modern engineering, like frictionless levitation trains, resistance-less electronics, super efficient computers, and even fusion power. The group’s discovery could bring humanity one step closer to seeing these dreams become reality.
However, some scientists feel that the team’s claims bear little weight. The Dias group has a history of suspected research misconduct, with one of their claims in a previous paper on a different, sulfur-based superconductor (previously the warmest superconducting material) being retracted after external researchers were unable to replicate their results. Given this, many scientists believe the claims are simply too good to be true. “There is a lot of evidence for superconductivity here if you take it at face value,” said Jorge Hirsch of the University of California, San Diego, “but I do not believe any of what these authors say. I am not sold at all.”
Dias has vehemently defended his paper’s validity and said that this new discovery underwent a thorough review process before being published in Nature. Given the (relatively) mild conditions needed for NDLH to demonstrate superconductivity, it is expected that outside researchers will either confirm or deny the Dias Group’s findings in the near future. While only a select few groups were able to work with the crushing pressures of their earlier, sulfur-based superconductor, many groups will be able to work with the lower pressure necessary for NDLH to superconduct. However, they might have to replicate the simple synthesis to create the material themselves as opposed to purchasing it from Dias himself, as he has since developed a startup to patent the material with collaborator Ashkan Salamat. The scientific community eagerly awaits the confirmation or disproof of Dias et al.’s findings, as this material could solve a problem that researchers have been pondering for over one hundred years.
