Superconductors are materials that are able to conduct electricity without resistance. Originally this was only possible at ultra-low temperatures, but the discovery of high-temperature superconductors in 1986 was first accomplished within copper-oxides.
This subsequently increased the operating temperatures of superconductors by more than 100°C and opened up a number of new applications.
There has been an increase in research activities in this field of high temperature and room temperature superconductors recently, primarily to understand the concept of superconductivity further without temperature limitations.
Collaboratively, scientists from the University of Liverpool and Durham University have created an innovative material that could help to further understand how superconductors could be utilised to transfer and transmit electricity, in the process conserving and reducing energy losses. This research team invented a round molecule called Carbon60 and showcased how a superconductor would functionally work at ambient and room temperatures for commercial and home use.
The researchers disclosed that superconductivity is a phenomenon that they are still trying to understand, particularly how it functions at high temperatures. According to them, superconductors have a very complex atomic structure and are full of disorder.
The material they created was made in powder form and is a nonconductor at room temperature. At room pressure, the electrons in the material were too far apart to super-conduct and so the researchers ‘squeezed’ them together by increasing the pressure inside the structure. They found that the change in the material was instantaneous – changing from a nonconductor to a superconductor. This allowed them to see the exact atomic structure at the point at which superconductivity occurred.
Significantly, the resultant atomic structures of the material were much simpler, and this allowed the researchers to control how freely electrons moved and test how they could manipulate the material to superconduct. This also allowed the researchers to study the exact point of transition between nonconducting and superconducting behaviour, something that has not been accomplished before.
In terms of applications, normal and high temperature superconductors are widely used to create electromagnets in medical scanners such as computerised axial tomography (CAT)/magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), in the power utilities field, where high-temperature superconductor-based transformers can be created, as well as high-temperature superconducting fault current limiters. Frost & Sullivan believes that this discovery could also aid the creation of more effective magnetometers to sense magnetic fields.
Among the key challenges in this field is bringing the superconducting critical temperature up closer to room temperature (and ultimately beyond). Superconductors have been developed to function at high temperatures, but the structure of the material is so complex that scientists have yet to understand how they could operate at room temperature for future use in providing power to homes and organisations.
Another key intention is to develop processing technology for room-temperature superconductors, such that they are in a form that can be exploited commercially. In the future, it may be possible to have room-temperature superconducting wires through the realisation of this technology. These could transmit power from power stations to cities and consumer homes without the loss of energy, replacing copper wires in the process.
For more information contact Patrick Cairns, Frost & Sullivan, +27 (0)21 680 3274, patrick.cairns@frost.com, www.frost.com
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