Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

OKIsItJustMe

(19,933 posts)
Thu Feb 26, 2015, 11:01 AM Feb 2015

Warming Up the World of Superconductors

https://pressroom.usc.edu/warming-up-the-world-of-superconductors/
[font face=Serif][font size=5]Warming Up the World of Superconductors[/font]

February 25, 2015

[font size=4]Clusters of aluminum metal atoms become superconductive at surprisingly high temperatures[/font]

[font size=3]A superconductor that works at room temperature was long thought impossible, but scientists at USC may have discovered a family of materials that could make it reality.

A team led by Vitaly Kresin, professor of physics at USC, found that aluminum “superatoms” — homogenous clusters of atoms — appear to form Cooper pairs of electrons (one of the key elements of superconductivity) at temperatures around 100 Kelvin.

Though 100 Kelvin is still pretty chilly — that’s about -280 degrees Fahrenheit — this is an enormous increase compared to bulk aluminum metal, which turns superconductive only near 1 Kelvin (-457 degrees Fahrenheit).

“This may be the discovery of a new family of superconductors, and raises the possibility that other types of superatoms will be capable of superconductivity at even warmer temperatures,” said Kresin, corresponding author of a paper on the finding that was published by Nano Letters on Jan. 28. USC graduate student Avik Halder and former USC postdoctoral researcher Anthony Liang are co-authors.

…[/font][/font]
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/ipdf/10.1021/nl5048175
Latest Discussions»Issue Forums»Environment & Energy»Warming Up the World of S...