In the search for high-temperature superconductors, hydrogen-rich materials called superhydrides are leading contenders, with experiments showing they can remain superconducting up to around 250 K (–23 °C). To date, all the demonstrations of superconducting superhydrides have been on binary alloys—compounds that contain hydrogen and one other element. Now Guangtao Liu of Jilin University, China, and colleagues have measured superconductivity in the ternary hydride LaBeH8. The team finds that the material can superconduct at up to 110 K at a pressure of 80 gigapascals [1]. Ternary hydrides have a wider variety of structures than binary ones, Liu says, so, the demonstration could significantly expand the materials available for high-temperature superconductivity studies.
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