https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/room-temperature-ambient-pressure-superconductivity-this-time-for-real/3512 Scanalyst Room Temperature, Ambient Pressure Superconductivity--This Time for Real? SCANALYZER The Happening World lead-apatite, ambient-pressure, korea, superconductivity, room-temperature johnwalker 26 July 2023 12:48 1 In a paper posted on arXiv on 2023-07-23, three researchers from the Quantum Energy Research Centre, Inc. and KU-KIST Graduate School of Converging Science and Technology, Korea University, Seoul, South Korea, report the production and test of a lead-apatite material which they claim exhibits all of the phenomena of superconductivity at room temperatures and above (they state its critical temperature, below which it is a superconductor, as 400 K, or 127deg C) and ambient atmospheric pressure at sea level. Here is the paper. [c68] arXiv.org [86a2c8ac52804c90ede238d99cb944037c6f82f6] The First Room-Temperature Ambient-Pressure Superconductor For the first time in the world, we succeeded in synthesizing the room-temperature superconductor ($T_c \ge 400$ K, 127$^\circ$C) working at ambient pressure with a modified lead-apatite (LK-99) structure. The superconductivity of LK-99 is proved... Full text, in PDF form, is available at the link. The abstract is as follows: For the first time in the world, we succeeded in synthesizing the room-temperature superconductor (T_c\geq 400 {\rm K}, 127[?] C) working at ambient pressure with a modified lead-apatite (LK-99) structure. The superconductivity of LK-99 is proved with the Critical temperature (T_c), Zero-resistivity, Critical current ( I_c), Critical magnetic field (H_c), and the Meissner effect. The superconductivity of LK-99 originates from minute structural distortion by a slight volume shrinkage (0.48 %), not by external factors such as temperature and pressure. The shrinkage is caused by {\rm Cu}^{2+} substitution of {\rm Pb2}^{+}(2) ions in the insulating network of Pb(2)-phosphate and it generates the stress. It concurrently transfers to Pb(1) of the cylindrical column resulting in distortion of the cylindrical column interface, which creates superconducting quantum wells (SQWs) in the interface. The heat capacity results indicated that the new model is suitable for explaining the superconductivity of LK-99. The unique structure of LK-99 that allows the minute distorted structure to be maintained in the interfaces is the most important factor that LK-99 maintains and exhibits superconductivity at room temperatures and ambient pressure. These illustrations from the paper show the structure of the synthesised material. image image783x840 138 KB This paper is the first scientific disclosure of these results. The posting on arXiv lists no submission to or acceptance of the paper by a peer-reviewed journal. However, @CTLaw has found three filings with the Korean patent office regarding this work, all filed in March 2023 with a "Priority date" (whatever that is) of 2021-08-25: * WO2023027537 "ROOM-TEMPERATURE AND ATMOSPHERIC-PRESSURE SUPERCONDUCTING CERAMIC COMPOUND AND PREPARATION METHOD THEREFOR" * KR20230030188 "Ceramic composite with superconductivities over room temperature at atmospheric condition and mehtod of manufacturing the ceramic composite" (misspelling of "method" in original) * KR20230030551 "Ceramic composite with superconductivities over room temperature at atmospheric condition and mehtod of manufacturing the ceramic composite" (misspelling of "method" in original) The menu at the left of these items allows viewing description, claims, cited, and citing documents, with buttons to machine translate from Korean where required. No other patent filings have been found so far. This silent video from the Quantum Energy Research Centre, institution of two of the co-authors, purports to show repulsion of a copper disc with a thermally deposited coating of the LK-99 material from a permanent magnet, as would be expected to occur from a superconductor manifesting the Meissner effect. [c041c1386da5be461c67b3717899195072130095] Another video, which cannot be embedded here, claims to show levitation of a sample of LK-99 above a permanent magnet: " Superconductor {\rm Pb}_{10-x}{\rm Cu}_x ({\rm PO}_4 )_{6 O} showing levitation at room temperature and atmospheric pressure and mechanism". Note that the corner of the material never actually rises above the magnet. In both of these magnetic repulsion videos, keep in mind that magnetic repulsion and/or levitation are not, by themselves, probative of superconductivity: a diamagnetic material such as pyrolytic graphite, can be made to levitate in a magnetic field without being superconductive. Here are some additional causes for caution by "some guy on the Internet". image This is, of course, far from the first time we've discussed high-temperature or room-temperature superconductivity here. See these earlier posts: * arXiv Preprint Server Cancels Papers, Bans Researcher over "Inflammatory Content" 2022-03-16 * Room Temperature Superconductivity? "This Time for Sure!" 2023-03-09 * The Superconductivity Squabble, Physics, History, and Controversy 2023-04-03 * Jorge Hirsch on Room Temperature Superconductivity or Scientific Fraud? 2023-05-19 Unlike earlier claims, which were based upon material under extreme pressure in a diamond anvil cell, this paper claims superconductivity under ordinary laboratory conditions, and rather than exotic materials such as lutetium hydride compounds, uses a phosphate of lead doped with copper, which a competent chemist should be able to whip up and test for themselves, which I presume is going on as I write in laboratories around the world. There's no need among this audience to explain the technological consequences of discovery of room temperature, ambient pressure superconductivity. If the effect is genuine, and materials can be engineered which retain their superconductivity under the high magnetic fields of power transmissions (which has been a limitation of the cuprate superconductors that operate at liquid nitrogen temperatures), this may spark a revolution in electronics as significant as the invention of the transistor, vacuum tube, and induction motor. We'll see. (The Korea Institute of Science and Technology, home of one of the co-inventors was, in the 1970s, a Marinchip Systems customer.) 7 Likes russnelson 26 July 2023 13:56 2 Oh, I hadn't thought about the induced magnetic field in a high current superconductor. Yes, that could be a problem. 4 Likes CTLaw 27 July 2023 12:14 3 Engineer attempting to replicate: image Click image to view complete Twitter thread, updated as the project progresses. Update: I have edited this post because the original link, as posted, cannot be viewed by those without a Twitter account. A link to a specific tweet, however, can be viewed by anybody. Users without a Twitter account will see only the first tweet; you must be logged in to see the thread that follows it. (@Fourmilab 2023-07-27 12:20 UTC) 2 Likes johnwalker 27 July 2023 12:31 4 Derek Lowe has posted an initial assessment of the superconductor paper in his Science column, "In the Pipeline", "Breaking Superconductor News", on 2023-07-26. I wrote recently about the turmoil in the field of higher-temperature superconductors, but little did I know what was coming. Yesterday two preprints appeared on the rXiv site, the first bearing the attention-getting title "The First Room-Temperature Ambient-Pressure Superconductor", and the second going into more detail about its behavior. As you'd imagine, this made something of a splash during the day on Tuesday! Let's look at what's being claimed, and how strong the evidence seems to be. The authors describe a lead-based copper-doped material, LK-99, which is made by first preparing a well-characterized mineral (lanarkite, Pb2(SO4)O) from lead oxide and lead sulfate. Separately, copper phosphide (Cu3P), another well-characterized compound, is also freshly prepared from elemental copper and phosphorus. These two substances are ground together in a 1:1 ratio and the mixture is sealed in a vacuum-evacuated quartz tube and heated to 925C, forming LK-99, which is Pb10-xCux(PO4)6O, a dark polycrystalline material. The structure is very similar to lead apatite, a well-characterized phosphate mineral, but its crystallographic unit cell is slightly smaller due to the substitution of particular lead atoms in its lattice by copper ones. And it's this effect on the compound's structure, the authors believe, that leads to its extraordinary superconducting behavior. Honestly, "extraordinary" doesn't get it across. We've been getting excited over the years about superconducting materials that don't even quite have to be cooled with liquid nitrogen, and this stuff is claimed to superconduct all the way up to room temperature and indeed up past the boiling point of water. Its critical temperature is said to be 127C (!) The phrase "boiling-water superconductor" is not one that I had ever used until yesterday, trust me on that. [?] Another welcome feature is that their procedure for preparing LK-99 seems quite straightforward. You can bet that furnaces in solid-state materials labs around the world have been cooking yesterday and today to try to reproduce its synthesis and the properties, and we should be hearing about the results of these experiments very soon. The first samples should be coming out of the quartz vessels. . .sometime tomorrow, perhaps? Depends on what was available around the lab! Now, as the world knows, all such claims to date have fallen apart on closer inspection - indeed, the superconductivity research group at Rochester that I wrote about earlier this month is now about to have another paper retracted on suspicions of data fabrication. But those reports were on materials that take very specialized equipment to make and evaluate - this new report looks like it's either going to fall apart very quickly or be quickly vindicated (as were the 1987 superconductor discoveries). I absolutely cannot wait to find out. [?] But as usual, it's a gigantic step to just show that such things can exist. That's what will shake everyone up well before any applications come along, and if this reproduces, labs around the world will frantically start looking for quantum-well superconducting materials of their own. Who knows what could come out of that? Robust high-current-density room-temperature superconductors are right out of science fiction (SF readers will recall that one such material was a big plot point in Larry Niven's Ringworld). Electrical generation and transmission, antennas, power storage, magnet applications (including things like fusion power plants), electric motors and basically everything that runs on electricity would be affected. We could stop throwing away so much generated power on heating up the wires that deliver it, for starters. 2 Likes johnwalker 27 July 2023 12:40 5 Superconducting magnet engineer Andrew Cote gives his view of the claim of room-temperature superconductivity in a Twitter thread collected as "Exploring the Possibilities of Room-Temperature Superconductivity: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly". Clips from the collection: Summary The good: There's some plausibility here, and if so, it's game-changing The bad: Reasonable chance this is a similar but different physical property The ugly: Their plots, and engineering usefulness Let me explain: The Good: Lee-Kim-Kwon (LKK) use familiar materials, Cuprates, and measures some key metrics of a room-temp superconductivity (SC): + Zero-resistivity + Critical current + Critical magnetic field + Meissner effect The bad: Normally the superconducting transition temperature is predicted by measuring heat capacity versus temperature. This is the Debye Temp. TKK say they can't measure this, because the usual theories of SC don't explain their sample: a lil bit sus The ugly: Some of their plots. The net-net: No champagne yet, but watch closely - this would be a serious game changer in things like power transmission, energy storage, and future-tech like quantum computers, fusion energy, mag-lev trains. I'm even more optimistic than 6 weeks ago Read the whole thing. 3 Likes CTLaw 27 July 2023 21:23 6 [294ae6f163b7bf5df1bd69b872b2f7dd05d] Manifold [a01e4358eb628f3bb162513084b1a2656f1d4754_2_690x345] Will the LK-99 room temp, ambient pressure superconductivity pre-print... 14% chance. Preprint here: https://arxiv.org/abs/2307.12008 Companion paper here with description of synthesis: https://arxiv.org/abs/ 2307.12037 Update 2023-07-27: Pasting my comment on resultion criteria We're clearly all here because a) it's... 1 Like johnwalker 27 July 2023 21:30 7 Note that Manifold is (from their "About" page): Manifold is a play-money prediction market platform where you can bet on anything. [?] * Mana (M) is the play-money used by to bet on our platform. * All users start with M500 for free and can earn more by winning bets and gaining free bonuses. * Most of our users never spend real money! * It cannot be converted to cash, but can be redeemed for real charity donations at a rate of M100 to $1. Thus, people betting are not actually backing their bet with money, so this is more like "putting your mouth where your mouth is". 1 Like CTLaw 27 July 2023 22:09 8 Any better? https://polymarket.com/event/is-the-room-temp-superconductor-real 1 Like johnwalker 27 July 2023 22:49 9 # CTLaw: Any better? Well, on Polymarket they're betting the USDC "stablecoin", which must be bought for US$ (or else by exchange of other cryptocurrencies at the current market price) and is supposed to be redeemable for US$ if you go through the hoops to setting up an exchange account, link to a bank account, and all of the "know your customer" folderol required. So, to the extent that a tethercoin is real and retains its 1:1 peg to the US$, people are betting real money. This is presumably a way to get around the U.S. federal and state bans on "online gambling", which define real-currency prediction markets within their prohibition. The only two prediction markets currently open to U.S. nationals are the university-operated PredictIt (based on New Zealand) and Iowa Electronic Markets, in...you guessed it...the U.S. state of Iowa. Neither, at this writing (2023-07-27 at 22:40 UTC), appear to have markets on replication of the claimed room-temperature superconductor. Requiring participants in a prediction market to first get into cryptocurrency is going to dramatically reduce the breadth of participation and the liquidity of the market and its efficiency in establishing the probability of the prediction from the crowd. I would also doubt that operating a prediction market in the U.S. in a stablecoin is going to evade attacks against it as online gambling once its size grows sufficiently large to come onto the radar of state and federal "no fun of any kind" agencies. * Home * Categories * FAQ/Guidelines * Terms of Service * Privacy Policy Powered by Discourse, best viewed with JavaScript enabled