In July 2023, researchers from South Korea’s Quantum Energy Research Center (Q-centre), Korea University and other teams dropped a heavy blow to the superconducting world, or the world, that “it has not yet been peer-reviewed”.
The research team announced the successful synthesis of the world's first room temperature and normal pressure superconductor.
That is, under normal pressure conditions, a modified lead-apatite (named LK-99) can behave as a superconducting material below 127°C (Tc≥400k).
Once this research result was announced, it caused quite a stir around the world.
Not only because of the fame of room temperature superconducting materials, but also the synthesis method of this modified lead-apatite material.
Compared with conventional superconducting materials, whether they are low-temperature superconductors, high-temperature superconductors, or materials that require extremely harsh environmental materials for room temperature superconductivity, this modified lead-apatite (LK-99)
The synthesis method of materials is a bit too 'child's play'.
Although there are relatively tedious steps, in simple terms, its synthesis method is to mix several powdered compounds containing lead, oxygen, sulfur and phosphorus together, and then heat them at high temperatures for several hours.
During this period, these powders containing lead, oxygen, sulfur and phosphorus undergo a chemical reaction to obtain a copper-doped lead-apatite crystal.
This is the so-called KL-99 room temperature superconducting material.
Techniques like those used by ancient alchemists to refine elixirs are relatively rare, let alone in the world of superconductors, or in other materials.
After all, with the advancement of industrialization and technology, today's material smelting is no longer as rough as it was in the last century.
Whether it is nanotechnology, 3D printing, or self-propagating high-temperature synthesis technology, etc., they have already formed their own systems.
The synthesis method of KL-99 modified lead-apatite material is really too rough.
Unsurprisingly, less than a month later, this legendary room temperature superconducting material was slapped to death on the ground by the famous Professor Xu Chuan amid the doubts from around the world.
A year and a half later, the KL-99 material, which had long been unknown, reappeared in the public eye due to two papers on Arxiv.
But this time it was just used as a "foil". What everyone was talking about was a room-temperature superconducting material called copper oxide-based chromium-silver system, and the article "Room Temperature Superconducting Mechanism of Copper Oxide-based Chromium-Silver System Materials"
paper.
Room temperature superconducting materials!
This term, which has been silent for a year and a half, has once again come into the eyes of the academic world, the material world, and even everyone around the world because of two papers on the arxiv preprint website.
Not only because it concerns room temperature superconducting materials, but also because of the uploaders of these two papers.
Xu Chuan!
This well-known name in the academic world once again disclosed his research results to the outside world.
The last time it was a proof of the weak Riemann hypothesis, and this time it was a room-temperature superconducting material that he had personally proven to disprove.
Related discussion topics have been established on the World Materials Research Institute Forum.
"The latest news! Professor Xu Chuan, a top scholar in China, has published the latest research results "Cupper oxide-based chromium-silver system room temperature superconducting materials" and related papers on the mechanism of room temperature superconducting on the Arxiv preprint website!"
The relevant discussion topic was established, and in the next second, many scholars and netizens poured in.
Without him, this discussion topic would be too explosive.
【WTF????Room temperature superconducting???Double click is coming again???】
[Wait, Professor Xu Chuan? Is he the Professor Xu Chuan I know? Doesn’t he study mathematics and physics? When did he enter materials science? 】
[Are you African upstairs? Professor Xu has been conducting research and development in the field of materials science. He developed high-temperature copper-carbon-silver composite superconducting materials and artificial SEI films. 】
[What the hell? Academician Xu published a paper? Or is it the result of room temperature superconducting materials??]
[Yes, just an hour ago, Professor Xu Chuan officially published two papers on arxiv. One is 'Copper oxide-based chromium-silver system room temperature superconducting material' and related test data, and the other is
This is a theoretical paper on the mechanism of room temperature superconductivity.]
【I'll go right away!】
[Don’t go there, arxiv has been down and you can’t get in. If you know mathematicians or physicists, maybe you can ask them if they have downloaded papers. Or wait for arixv to be restored.]
【Mathematician? Why should we find a mathematician?】
[Because most of the people who follow Professor Xu Chuan on arxiv are mathematicians or physicists, scholars in the field of materials science generally go there less often, so they are the first to get the news. 】
...
As discussed on the World Institute of Materials Forum, most of the first batch of data papers on "Copper Oxide-Based Chromium-Silver System·Room Temperature Superconducting Materials" were mathematicians and physicists who followed Xu Chuan on arxiv.
Scientists.
After the relevant news leaked out, the preprint server, now taken over by Cornell University, was overwhelmed by the traffic and collapsed.
In the School of Computer Science at Cornell University, the sweating server administrator restored the arxiv preprint server step by step under the watchful eyes of the school leaders, and then simultaneously mounted the idle computer resources on it to cope with the huge amount of data that will follow.
traffic impact.
If it were news about simple room temperature superconducting materials, it would be nothing to arxiv, which has experienced development in recent years.
But the key point is that this news was released by the famous Professor Xu Chuan.
The combination of the two is not simply one plus one equals two, but one plus one equals one hundred, or even one thousand.
I am afraid that as soon as arixv is restored, everyone in the academic world will flock in.
Ensuring that preprint websites can handle such exaggerated traffic is not a simple matter.
While the administrator of the School of Computer Science was restoring arxiv, on the other side of Cornell University, in an office in the teaching building of the School of Engineering.
The two professors of materials science who have received the news are each holding a paper and are flipping through it. Although arxiv has been suspended, it does not affect their access to the paper.
"Professor O'Connor, what do you think?"
In the office, a middle-aged man with a beard closed the paper in his hand, breathed a long sigh of relief, and looked at another thin professor sitting opposite the sofa.
Upon hearing the inquiry, Professor O'Connor Elliott said without raising his head: "Wait a minute."
He hasn't finished reading the paper in his hand. To be precise, he hasn't finished reading it for the third time.
Across the way, Professor Steele Hobert, who asked the question, didn't pay much attention, picked up the coffee at hand and drank it.
After waiting for half a cup of coffee, Professor O'Connor Elliot put down the paper in his hand and spoke with emotion.
"Awesome! I didn't expect that the mechanism of room temperature superconductivity can be explained from the perspective of electron delocalization. It is indeed Professor Xu."
Opposite the sofa, Steele Hobert smiled without surprise and said: "Explain the regular placement in the crystal lattice of the space group (SG) in superconducting materials through the grand unified framework theory of strongly correlated electron systems.
, this idea is indeed unique.”
"What I care more about is the copper oxide-based chromium-silver system room temperature superconducting material. You know, if this is true, the whole world will change!"
O'Connor Elliot took a sip of his coffee, thought for a while and said, "It is indeed difficult to imagine room-temperature superconducting materials at three standard atmospheres."
If other scholars or research institutions disclose room temperature superconducting materials, the first reaction of most research institutions or scholars may be to question it.
Questioning the authenticity and whether it is really superconducting
After all, the concept of room-temperature superconductivity has been studied for a century. There have been many news releases, but none of them are true.
But the news released by Professor Xu Chuan, I am afraid that the first reaction of most people will be surprise and shock.
Including him and Steele, the first reaction was shock, surprise, and it was hard to imagine how that person did it.
There will still be doubts, but not now.
At least, in their first reaction, they almost instinctively believed that the other party really did it.
Everyone in the academic world knows how rigorous and serious that person is about academic research. Every paper and every result he publishes can be said to be made public only after repeated demonstrations.
Especially in the field of superconducting materials, he developed the high-temperature copper-carbon-silver composite superconducting material with the best comprehensive performance in the world.
Although the temperature of 152K is still a long way from room temperature, it does not seem to be that surprising that he developed room temperature superconducting materials on this basis.
Just like in the mathematics community, almost everyone believes that Professor Xu Chuan, who solved the weak Riemann Hypothesis, is the most likely to solve the Riemann Hypothesis.
Opposite the sofa, Steele Hobert smiled and said: "The superconducting world is about to change."
Putting down the coffee cup in his hand, Professor O'Connor Elliott shook his head gently and added: "Not only the superconducting world, but also the material world, or the entire world is about to usher in a new round of changes.
"
After a slight pause, his eyes fell on the paper on the coffee table, and then said: "The concept of applying electron delocalization to inorganic materials and metallic materials is so amazing. This will be a major branch of the materials world, and also
He has created another discipline that will be the key direction of materials research in the future."
"pity......"
Speaking of this, Professor O'Connor Elliot sighed.
Unfortunately, the paper "Room Temperature Superconducting Mechanism of Copper Oxide-Based Chromium-Silver Materials" only describes the mechanism, but does not explain in detail how to apply the electron delocalization effect to inorganic materials and
on metal materials.
Although this is not the most important thing in "The Mechanism of Room Temperature Superconductivity of Copper Oxide-Based Chromium-Silver Materials", it is what he wants to see most.
He was certain that that person had a complete method.
It is even possible that the copper oxide-based chromium-silver room temperature superconducting material was developed based on that method.
If it were anyone else, O'Connor Elliott would not have made such speculations.
Because for the materials science community, the various properties of materials are generally studied only after materials have been developed.
Although it is not impossible to develop a new material based on theoretical mechanisms, it is extremely rare to be able to do so.
Especially for materials like room temperature superconductivity, which involve various complex theories, it is even more impossible.
But when it comes to that person, it's not impossible.
Since becoming famous, what he is best at is the construction of various theories.
Whether it is the mechanism of high-temperature superconducting materials or the unified framework theory of strongly correlated electrons, the theory is first constructed and then studied or confirmed.
If you are in the world of mathematics, this is not an unusual thing.
Mathematicians are best at this.
But in the world of physics, it's difficult.
After all, physics is a discipline that observes nature and discovers and studies the most general laws of motion and the basic structure of matter.
Of course, O'Connor Elliott also knew very well that the method for designing the detailed basic structure of the electron delocalization effect could not be disclosed to the public, let alone Xu Chuan.
Especially this involves room temperature superconducting materials and the development of future materials science. It is no exaggeration to say that this is something that can shake the foundation of the country and affect the world pattern.
...
On the other side, facing Eurasia across the sea.
In the State Key Laboratory of Superconductivity, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Sitting in his office, Director Zhou Xingjiang was dealing with the work at hand. He was wearing a pair of glasses and flipping through the documents in his hand.
As the director of the State Key Laboratory of Superconductivity, his daily work is mainly in the research, development and application of superconducting materials.
Whether it is the exploration and research of new superconducting materials, research on the mechanism and related physics of superconducting materials, or the preparation of superconducting thin films and research on the application of superconducting thin film devices, etc., it is all laboratory work.
What was placed in front of him was a research report on the application of high-temperature copper-carbon-silver composite superconducting material devices.
Although this is the research result of the Chuanhai Materials Research Institute, the Western Superconducting Group has the right to extend the application of the material after signing the production contract.
This report was submitted by the Western Superconducting Group.
After several years of production research, Western Superconducting Group has successfully manufactured some 'electronic devices' in the laboratory using high-temperature copper-carbon-silver composite superconducting materials.
The report in his hand was a document submitted by the Western Superconducting Group in the hope of further expanding the application of 'superconducting electronic devices'.
This is a good thing for the development of superconducting materials and the country. Zhou Xingjiang did not hesitate too much. After thinking about some details, he was ready to sign and approve the report.
At this moment, the open door was knocked twice, and an assistant walked in quickly.
"Director Zhou, the latest news is that under the leadership of Academician Xu Chuan, the Sichuan-Hai Institute of Materials has prepared room-temperature superconducting materials!"
"What?" After hearing this, the pen he was about to sign froze in mid-air. Zhou Xingjiang looked at his assistant in astonishment: "Are you sure?"
The assistant nodded quickly and said: "Academician Xu Chuan has made this news public and sent us a copy of room temperature superconducting materials via post."
Hearing this, Zhou Xingjiang stood up suddenly, pushed away his chair and walked out.
"Where are the materials? Take me to see them quickly!"