Superconductors – the next world sensation after ChatGPD?

Superconductors – the next world sensation after ChatGPD?

HORST BUCHWALD

First part

When Ranga Dias announced in March: „The age of high-temperature superconductivity has begun,“ his colleagues around the world remained calm. It was said that Dias was a shady character. Several plagiarized passages were found in the doctoral thesis of the head of a research group at the University of Rochester in the US state of New York. He also wrote two studies whose publication was rejected by specialist journals.

Experts were by no means positive about Unearthy Materials. She belongs to Dias. However, Crunchbase reported that the company had raised $17 million in venture capital since 2020, but was still a long way from its goal of developing a room-temperature superconductor.

But now the breakthrough could have been achieved? The material that Dia believes will usher in the era of high-temperature pipes is called NDLH. It is said to be superconducting at just under 21 °C (294 K). This result was published in the renowned journal Nature.

NDLH stands for nitrogen-doped lutetium hydride. Rare-earth metal hydrides have been shown by some researchers to be promising candidates for inducing superconductivity.
However, NDLH does not become superconducting at room temperature until it is subjected to a pressure of 10 kBar (1 GPa). While that’s still far from practical, some researchers have recognized that the Dias team has made important progress. All other materials that Dias tested required much higher pressures.

However, NDLH is not yet suitable for everyday use either. Because superconductivity still requires quite extreme conditions: either low temperature or high pressure.
The topic of superconductivity is an area where numerous scientists are working hard to present the solution. It becomes clear why when you consider the likely consequences:
– the Nobel Prize is almost certain,
– the scientific reputation rises higher and higher in the face of the effects. The following examples indicate it:
– there would be no more waste heat problems with computers,
– electric motors work more efficiently,
– the cost of maglev trains decreases,
. the emission of pollutants from the consumption of energy decreases
. Quantum computers will emit significantly fewer pollutants and at the same time be cheaper, which means that the number of scientists is growing and that numerous broken research projects can be successfully completed.