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Superconductor Breakthrough Findings Replicated, Twice, in Preliminary Testing - Tom's Hardware
(www.tomshardware.com)
this post was submitted on 02 Aug 2023
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Heres my analysis of what all has actually happened from a similar post with this article yesterday
From reading through the article and it's sources, here's what seems to be the case:
a simulation at Berkely National Labs with their supercomputing capabilities has verified that LK-99 theoretically has superconducting properties
Argonne National Labs also seems to be involved and doing stuff, but nothing official from them yet, besides maybe helping with simulation stuff
a Russian scientist is working on improving the synthesis process and has made some low purity samples that produce the Messnier effect, but higher purity than the original I think. It's all from Twitter (x) threads and a little hard to follow. Her handle is @iris_IGB
China National Lab (Shenyang) first principles analysis suggest gold and silver doping LK-99 will make superconductors as well. [Directly copied from article]
Under the guidance of Professor Chang Haixin, postdoctoral Wu Hao and doctoral student Yang Li of the School of Materials Science and Technology of Huazhong University of Science and Technology they have successfully verified and synthesized the LK-99 crystal. It can be magnetically levitated for the first time and this is shown on a bilibili video. They expect to realize the true sense of non-contact superconducting magnetic levitation. [Also Directly copied from article]
Direct source for last 2 points and also more info in general
https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2023/07/tracking-lk-99-superconductor-replication-efforts.html
I would give LK-99 a 95 percent chance of either being a true rook temperature superconductor or directly leading to the discovery of a true rook temp superconductor in the next few years.
A few caveats however: according to the simulation, the conductive pathways only forms when the copper bonds to a specific higher-energy spot in the crystal, so getting higher purities will likely need a fair amount of innovation on the production process. There are some other complications with the synthesis, so even if it is fully and properly confirmed with more papers and such it will still likely be a while before it can start to be used effectively.
yea, even if LK-99 is a room temp super conductor, i dont it expect to be THE room temp super conductor... but it will prove its possible, and provide pathways to improve it (either advancing LK-99, or showing how altering a material to introduce internal strain can cause it in other compounds)
The proof of concept alone will get so much money this way, i'm betting that we'll have either 3, 7, or 358 promising compounds or materials in a year or 3! Im getting cautiously optimistic here :-)
The fact that it was a Chinese team that made the discovery may be the kickstart an 'arms race' needs in order for the US to put significant resources behind the development of RTSCs. It's hard to pour millions of dollars into a hole if you want see the bottom of it. If there's a viable path and it looks like China may beat the US to the finish line, the US will throw more resources at the problem.
What argonne ends up saying will have huge weight for me. Hope to hear them chime in.
Even more interesting is Iris Alexander's claim that she was able to produce the material using relatively simple tools. Making superconductor materials could become a cottage industry.