Superconductor Claims Spark Investor Frenzy, But Scientists Are Sceptical.
Last week, two research papers authored by South Korean scientists made a remarkable assertion that caused a social media frenzy and led to a surge in stock prices for some companies in China and South Korea. The papers claimed to have discovered a practical superconductor.
Superconductors are materials that allow electricity to flow without any resistance, a characteristic that could revolutionize power grids by eliminating energy loss during transmission and advance fields like computing chips, where electrical resistance limits performance.
The papers were published on a website used by scientists to share research before formal peer review and publication, prompting researchers worldwide, including those from at least two U.S. national labs and three Chinese universities, to investigate the proposed material closely.
Currently, superconducting materials are used in applications like MRI machines and some quantum computers. However, they only exhibit their superconducting properties at extremely low temperatures, making them impractical for widespread use.
In a groundbreaking claim, the South Korean researchers asserted that they had discovered a room temperature superconductor, a long-sought-after goal in the scientific community.
The researchers detailed a process for creating the material, called LK-99, involving the introduction of a small number of copper atoms into a common mineral known as lead apatite.
The initial paper listed three authors, while a second, more detailed paper had six authors, with only two overlapping authors from the first paper. Unfortunately, none of the authors responded to requests for comments from Reuters.
Experts interviewed by Reuters acknowledged that there is no fundamental law of physics preventing a room temperature superconductor from existing. They also noted that the material described by the South Korean team is relatively easy to grow, which means other researchers could potentially verify the results soon.
The ultimate proof of the discovery’s validity is the successful replication of the findings by other reputable laboratories.
Several Chinese universities claimed to have produced versions of LK-99 with varying results. One team demonstrated levitation over a magnet, a critical characteristic of superconductors, while another team did not observe zero resistance, a necessary trait for a superconductor. A third team measured zero resistance, but only at a temperature of 110 Kelvin (-163 degrees Celsius).
To verify the claims, South Korean experts announced the establishment of a committee.
Eric Toone, an investor at Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures and a former scientist, emphasized the difficulty of validating superconductivity measurements and stressed the need for peer review and reproduction efforts by reputable labs.
However, the potential downside is that the field of superconductors has seen many materials that initially show promise but fail under scrutiny, commonly referred to as unidentified superconducting objects (USOs). Hence, caution is advised until further validation is obtained.
Researchers have pointed out issues with the original papers, such as the lack of comprehensive data over a broad temperature range to demonstrate the material’s behavior in both superconducting and non-superconducting states.
Despite these challenges, scientists are intrigued by the possibility of serendipitously discovering superconductors in common materials, and they believe that further study of the results is warranted, considering the vast number of minerals yet to be explored.
