Could a stack of 2D materials allow for supercurrents at ground-breakingly warm temperatures, easily achievable in the household kitchen?
An international study published in August opens a new route to high-temperature supercurrents at temperatures as 'warm' as inside a kitchen fridge.
The ultimate aim is to achieve superconductivity (ie, electrical current without any energy loss to resistance) at a reasonable temperature.
Previously, superconductivity has only been possible at impractically low temperatures, less than -170°C below zero -- even the Antarctic would be far too warm!
For this reason, the cooling costs of superconductors have been high, requiring expensive and energy-intensive cooling systems.
Superconductivity at everyday temperatures is the ultimate goal of researchers in the field.
This new semiconductor superlattice device could form the basis of a radically new class of ultra-low energy electronics with vastly lower energy consumption per computation than conventional, silicon-based (CMOS) electronics.
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