Superconductivity is one of those places where chemistry and physics cross paths. That’s especially true as people search for higher-temperature materials, because that seems to involve more and more complex synthesis and characterization of the results. Very tiny changes in conditions or starting materials can make for huge differences in the behavior of the final products, and figuring out the atomic-level structures (not just unit cells, but defects, grain/domain sizes, interface effects, and so on) is a major analytical challenge.
A few weeks ago, a preprint showed up claiming room-temperature superconductivity in a mixture of gold and silver nanoparticles. That’s one out of deep left field, for sure, but so were the (by now well established) copper-oxide materials. This latest result really doesn’t seem likely at all, but you can’t quite rule anything out in this area. And the potential impacts of a room-temp superconductor are so gigantic (scientifically, economically, etc.) that even low-probability claims deserve a hearing.
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