Impossible Room Temperature Superconductors Now Possible: Check How

Imagine an energy grid that flows without resistance, renewable power shared globally, and lightning-fast floating transport. This futuristic vision hinges on one long-sought innovation: room temperature superconductors.

Conventional superconductors only operate around -200°C, requiring costly cooling. But room temperature functionality near 25°C could transform society. An intense global race is now underway to discover this remarkable capability in novel materials like hydrides and high-temperature superconductors.

The Practical Potential of Lossless Room Temperature Superconductors

Since the 1911 discovery of superconductivity, the promise of perfect conductors has captured imaginations. At low temperatures, certain materials allow electrons to flow with no loss of resistance. This enables myriad applications:

• Seamless grids transmit electricity worldwide without transmission line losses
• Medical MRI operates without liquefied gas cooling
• Faster circuits spread in computers without overheating
• Floating trains levitate and zoom using powerful magnetic repulsion
• Renewables connect seamlessly across continents

But conventional superconductors require impractical cooling below -135°C. New approaches must be found. Room temperature functionality near 25°C could make such innovations mainstream. The global innovation race is on.

Conquering Temperature Limits in Novel Superconductors

To understand the innovation challenge, let’s review how superconductors work. In ordinary wires, electrons collide and dissipate energy as heat. But below the “critical temperature”, electrons in certain materials form synchronized Cooper pairs that flow without resistance.

This occurs because electrons vibrate at specific energies dictated by the atomic lattice. At low temperatures, reduced vibrations enable quantum effects that allow electron pairing and lossless conduction.

Cooper pairs follow different quantum mechanical rules from those of lonesome electrons. Instead of stacking on top of each to form energy shells, they act like bosons (particles which are allowed to be in the same state). These cooper pairs are bonded over large distances therefore they all become entangled and overlap to form one large network of interactions. This behavior prevents collisions from occurring thus leading to no resistance.

Create enough of these Cooper pairs throughout a material, and they become a superfluid, flowing without any loss of energy. Stir a superfluid once, and it will theoretically remain swirling until the end of the universe.

The highest critical temperature so far achieved is -135°C in hydrogen sulfide at high pressure. But for widespread applications, closer to 25°C room temperature is needed. Can researchers discover or design superconducting materials that work in warmer conditions? Global teams are hot on the trail. Let’s discover the possible encouraging pathways to room temperature superconductors.

Clues from Unusual Superconducting Materials

Rather than pure metals, some ceramics, organics, hydrides, and other exotic compounds can also exhibit type 2 superconductivity, although still cold. However, their unusual properties suggest room temperature potential.

Unlike type 1 superconductors that lose all superconducting behaviour abruptly at a critical field strength, type 2 superconductors exhibit a more gradual loss of properties in a magnetic field, allowing them to handle much higher field strengths before superconductivity fails. This is because type 2 materials contain defects that allow penetration and pinning of quantized vortices containing normal non-superconducting material. Hence type 2 superconductors can persist in a “mixed state” carrying some current with partial resistance and therefore represent viable candidates to work as room-temperature superconductors.

The Hydrogen Route to Ambient Superconductivity

Studies confirm hydrogen can superconduct 100+ degrees warmer than metals under high pressure. But stability challenges remain. Strategies like squeezing hydrogen between layer lattices seek the optimal density and bond length between atoms where room temperature may be maintained.

The Pentagon’s DARPA predicts the availability of hydride superconductors operating at ambient temperatures within 2-3 years. While still requiring high pressures, for now, hydrogen-based approaches define a practical roadmap for economically viable room-temperature materials.

Superconducting Nanocarbon and Hybrid Structures

Engineered nanocarbon further propels progress. Hybrids of graphene, nanotubes, or fullerenes with conventional superconductors create interfaces that enhance electron flow. The nano-irregularities alter vibrational modes and electron scattering to “smear” the phase change boundary.

At Cambridge University, coating niobium nitride with graphene pushed the critical temperature near -80°C. Stacking layers and nanoparticles provides tunability to potentially exceed room temperature thresholds.

As nanofabrication improves, architected carbon hybrids offer a practical route to ambient superconductivity. But discovery still requires extensive empirical testing.

Exotic 2D Materials and Heterostructures

Layering novel 2D materials like molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) into crystalline heterostructures presents another frontier. The interfaces generated can allow electron coupling at warmer temperatures. A 2018 MoS2-lithium prototype achieved superconductivity at -23°C, far above expected. With material and structure refinements, room temperature may eventually be possible.

The nanoscale flatness of 2D materials creates quantum effects conducive to raising critical temperatures. Their composability also enables extensive tuning. As manufacturing techniques mature, engineered heterostructures provide cause for optimism.

Space Testbeds Isolate Room Temperature Superconductors Materials from Interference

Orbiting laboratory testbeds like China’s Micius quantum satellite offer pristine conditions impossible on Earth to advance superconductor research. In space’s vacuum and microgravity, materials create perfectly ordered crystals undisturbed by vibration and atmosphere.

Space-based research provides an ultra-pure environment to grow superconducting material samples and isolate variables. These orbital experiments may precisely pinpoint conditions to elicit room temperature superconductivity. Once identified, large-scale production can be adapted terrestrially.

While expensive, space-enabled breakthroughs would secure immeasurable financial and social dividends on Earth. Space delivers ideal superconductor innovation conditions.

The Room Temperature Superconductors Revolution Approaches

When room temperature superconductivity finally unfolds, the impact will resound worldwide. Perfect conduits for electricity enable a sustainable efficiency revolution in how society functions. The rewards for unlocking ambient superconductors are immense – as is the global effort dedicated to this breakthrough.

With collaboration, creativity and computing power, room temperature superconductors approach steadily from dream to reality. Their emergence will trigger cascading innovation waves through technologies like healthcare, transit and communications. A superconducting civilization awaits.