Viral room-temperature superconductor claims spark excitement – and skepticism

By Mahboobeh Shahbazi, Senior Research Fellow, Materials Science, Queensland University of Technology

Last week, a group of South Korean physicists made a startling claim. In two papers uploaded to the arXiv preprint server, they say they have created a material that “opens a new era for humankind”.

LK-99, a lead-based compound, is purportedly a room-temperature, ambient-pressure superconductor. Such a material, which conducts electricity without any resistance under normal conditions, could have huge implications for energy generation and transmission, transport,…

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