THE metal scandium can be made into a superconductor without having to be mixed with other substances, and this occurs at higher temperatures than for any other element. The process still requires extreme cold and pressure, but the discovery may help us make better electronics.
Superconductors – materials that conduct electricity without the electrical resistance that leads to wasted energy – could enable perfectly efficient electronics. But the first superconductors only worked at very low temperatures, so all devices using them had to be kept in powerful fridges.
More recently, researchers have found that the superconducting properties of some materials can be turned on at higher temperatures by changing the materials’ chemical composition or putting them under pressure. There is still no definitive consensus on how to make a material that superconducts…
You're reading a preview of
New Scientist International Edition (Digital) - 1 Issue, 24 June 2023