Room temperature superconductivity finally claimed by mystery material
At high pressures carbon–hydrogen–sulfur compound becomes superconducting at 15˚C
The long-sought goal of a material that is superconductive close to room temperature has been achieved – but the researchers at the University of Rochester, US, don’t know its exact composition. Ranga Dias and co-workers’ carbon, hydrogen and sulfur compound became superconductive at temperatures around 288K or 15˚C at pressures of 155GPa – 1.55 million times that of the Earth’s atmosphere. This means there is no need to cool it to around -140˚C needed for today’s zero resistance commercial superconductors. ‘We want to celebrate this,’ Dias tells Chemistry World. ‘Having the first room temperature superconductor is one of the holy grails of physics.’