Superconductors Archives – The Green Optimistic

Superconductivity Could Be Reinvented

Arsenij Percov — Mon, 13 Aug 2018 10:28:13 +0000

Rice University scientists conducted a study on superconductivity. Physicists Pengcheng Dai and Andriy Nevidimoskyy, with some of their colleagues, used simulations and neutron scattering experiments that show that the atomic structure of materials to reveal tiny distortions of the crystal lattice in a so-called iron pnictide compound of sodium, iron, nickel, and arsenic.

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Quasi-one-dimensional Metallic Conductivity for Faster, Advanced Electronics

Janina Lazo-Cruz — Sun, 04 Mar 2018 11:56:53 +0000

Since its discovery in 2004, researchers have been exploring 2D electron gas due to its unique electric properties and how it could be of use in superconductors, actuators, memory devices, etc. Its uniqueness lies in its ability to exhibit conductivity or electron mobility in two dimensions, but tightly confined in the third dimension. This restriction […]

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World’s Only Solid Hydrogen Piece Has Disappeared

Nicholas Say — Sun, 26 Feb 2017 10:49:16 +0000

It would appear the the first possible instance of solid hydrogen has disappeared, if it was ever there to begin with. In a terrible accident last week in his laboratory at Harvard University, Professor Isaac Silvera reports that while testing the solid hydrogen with a laser, something terrible happened. There was an audible “pop”, and […]

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Scientists Produce Solid Hydrogen Superconductor

Nicholas Say — Fri, 03 Feb 2017 20:13:30 +0000

A study published in journal Science yesterday claims that for the first time in the history of mankind, solid hydrogen exists on earth. This solid hydrogen was created by squeezing the normally gaseous element with such force that it turned into a metal and if repeatable this process will be capable of producing an entirely […]

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New Material Promises Fast Energy Saving Electronics

Mila Luleva — Tue, 16 Feb 2016 20:29:56 +0000

Scientists developed a new one-atom thick material that allows fast movement of electrical charges. It can boost performance of electronics, while saving power. Scientists from University of Utah have developed a new type of 2D material, which has the potential to revolutionize electronics as we know them. The team claims that this new semiconductor allows charges to […]

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Superconducting Ink Boosts Efficiency of Solar Water Heaters

Mila Luleva — Mon, 02 Nov 2015 17:38:05 +0000

Mexican researchers developed a superconducting ink, containing nano particles, which can boost the efficiency of solar water heaters by as much as seventy percent. Solar water heaters are one of these great inventions that often serve more than one incredible purpose. Using the energy of the sun, this technology not only provides free hot water, […]

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German Researcher & Team Debunk Room Temperature Superconductors

Ari Luis — Fri, 05 Dec 2014 13:17:51 +0000

I remember reading about how superconductors were to revolutionize transportation, computing, telecommunications, energy and industry. I also remember with amazement the time I made a superconductor float on a magnet in a pool of liquid nitrogen. That was cool, both figuratively and literally, as the temperature of the superconductor dropped to −196 °C (77 K; […]

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Chinese Super-MagLev Train Could Reach 1,800 MPH

Benji Jerew — Tue, 13 May 2014 17:03:55 +0000

The Applied Superconductivity Laboratory of Southwest Jiaotong University, China, says that its new Super-Maglev train could reach speeds of up to 1,800 mph, but is it (pardon the pun) a pipe-dream? Tube transport has featured in The Jetsons, Futurama, and your local drive-through banking center, for decades. The closest we’ve come to human or cargo […]

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Superconductor Levitation, “Kinda Fun,” and Useful? [Video]

Benji Jerew — Thu, 07 Nov 2013 21:21:30 +0000

Aside from use in the LHC [Large Hadron Collider] superconductors have application in the real world. After all, no one really needs a hadron collider in their back yard, not even a little one. Thinking about the properties of superconductors, mainly two things come to mind. First, they can carry insane amounts of electricity with almost […]

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High-Performance Superconductors Developed, Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Benji Jerew — Mon, 19 Aug 2013 21:29:41 +0000

Superconductors typically find their way into power generation and transmission applications, where losses are unacceptable or great amounts of current are needed to flow. When cooled to a critical temperature, superconductors offer near zero resistance to electrical flow, eliminating heat generation. Additionally, superconductors don’t need to be nearly as robust as standard ambient-temperature conductors. For […]

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SUPRAPOWER Project to Develop Superconductor Wind Turbines for EU

Mike Sandru — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 17:15:03 +0000

Despite the clean energy provided by wind turbines, they remain expensive to build and install, especially the offshore type. To help reduce this cost, the EU together with nine more companies and science groups and led by Spain’s Tecnalia, have unveiled a project to develop superconductor technology for wind turbines. The entire project is to […]

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Solar Cells and Supercapacitors Improved by New 3D Germanium Sulfide Nanostructure

Ovidiu Sandru — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 19:06:04 +0000

Next-generation supercapacitors and solar cells could be improved by a newly-created germanium sulfide (GeS) nanomaterial resembling a shish-kebab. North Carolina State University researchers put up a three-dimensional structure that consists of multiple bi-dimensional nanosheets impaled by a one-dimensional nanowire of germanium sulfide. To create the heterosurface, the researchers begin by creating the nanowire 100 nanometers […]

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Superconductor Resistivity Reduced by New Discovery

Mila Luleva — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 18:38:35 +0000

An international team of researchers from Russia, Spain, Belgium, the U.K. and the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory has discovered groundbreaking applications of superconductivity. The study appeared in Nature Communications last week. They were able to establish how to stabilize efficiently tiny magnetic vortices, which interfere with superconductivity. This problem has been […]

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Uranium-Based Material Could Lead to Better Superconductors

Benji Jerew — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 22:52:16 +0000

Mention uranium, and you may think of two applications right off the bat, nuclear power generation and atomic weapons. These two things may bring some problems to mind, such as nuclear meltdown, fallout, and winter. Physicists, on the other hand, don’t see things quite so dismally, and continue to experiment with uranium for more benign […]

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Breakthrough Iron-Based Superconductors Pave the Way for Energy-Intensive Technologies

Leigh Hutchens — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 08:16:55 +0000

The US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory scientists have developed an iron-based high performance superconducting wire, paving the way for some of the most energy-intensive technologies in the world. Scientists were able to grow custom materials that are able to carry very high current under very high magnetic fields, not unlike those found […]

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Superconductors Could Increase Wind Turbine Efficiency

Benji Jerew — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 17:18:18 +0000

One of the great limitations in any electrical or electronic system is resistance. Electrical resistance, measured in “Ω” or ohms, is not a constant, but dependent on temperature. As the temperature increases, resistance also increases. When considering wind turbine generators, there are limits to the amount of electricity can be generated. The problem is that […]

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Superconducting Generators Increase Wind Power Plant Efficiency

Leigh Hutchens — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 05:43:39 +0000

Experts believe that wind power will be the key in the quest for alternative energy solutions. After years of research, scientists have determined that adding superconductors to generators will increase the performance and generate 10 megawatts while also reducing the weight and size of the generator. Superconducting generators also use a fraction of the globes’ […]

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Atom Cooling Leads to Greater Understanding of Superconductors

Leigh Hutchens — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 07:20:56 +0000

The processes that occur when atoms cool have long eluded scientists. However, a team of researchers at The Open University believe they have developed a method to understand more about the specifics of atom cooling and hope this may one day be used to more sophisticated superconductors. A superconductor is a material with no electrical […]

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Superconducting Wire Generates and Transports Electricity, Wins Additional Funding

Mila Luleva — Sun, 09 Dec 2012 10:31:49 +0000

As part of a wind energy project, a superconducting wire that can generate and transport electricity brought to a team of engineering researchers at University of Huston, the massive $900,000 additional funding from the US Department of Energy (DOE). In addition, the project was given $ 1 million grant extension totaling up the award to […]

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Swiss High-Temperature Superconductor Discovery Could Change The Grid Forever

Ovidiu Sandru — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 17:51:51 +0000

A team of researchers from EPFL’s Laboratory for Quantum Magnetism could change the way people transmit electricity and the efficiency of the process. Their study on how extremely small particles act in conjunction with magnetism may give other physicists a clue on how to build high-temperature superconductors. By creating a layer of ceramic material just […]

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SMES: New Energy Storing Technology by ABB Using Electromagnetic Fields and Superconductivity

Ovidiu Sandru — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 19:37:09 +0000

ABB, a Swiss-based engineering company, has presented a prototype of their innovative superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES), at a DOE ARPA-E conference which took place in Washigton D.C. at the beginning of this month. Their 3.3 kWh proof-of-concept SMES is not very cost-effective for the moment, but may one day provide cleaner storage solutions for excess alternative energy.

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Scientists Explain Limitations of High Temperature Superconductors in High Currents

Ovidiu Sandru — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 11:54:34 +0000

Since their discovery in late 1980s, superconductors were thought to revolutionize everything that had an electric current flowing, but allowing it to pass through more easily, and with much less heat produced. Ultra-efficient magnetic trains had been envisioned, then, but ...

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Scientists Discover Nano-Scale Superconducting Material

Ovidiu Sandru — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 20:01:32 +0000

Researchers from the Bar-Ilan University in Israel, collaborating with the Brookhaven National Laboratory in the U.S. have designed superconducting thin films patterned with large arrays of nanowires and loops. The temperature at which they superconduct is pretty low and hard to get for the moment - only 30 °K (-243°C). Magnetic fields have proved themselves to change the material's electrical resistance in an unexpected manner.

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Molecular-Level Superconducting Material Discovered by Ohio Scientists

Ovidiu Sandru — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 09:12:11 +0000

A sheet less than a nanometer wide and four pairs of molecules now constitutes the world's smallest superconductor and proves that superconducting nanoscale materials can be made, an obvious advance for nano-scaled electronics and energy applications.

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New Research Showing Fabrication Pattern for Higher-Temperature Superconductors

Ovidiu Sandru — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 15:13:43 +0000

Researchers from Princeton University, Brookhaven National Laboratory and the Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry in Japan, using Scanning Tunneling Microscopy, have discovered how in a superconducting material, at a nano-scale level, regions with stronger superconductivity helped regions with weaker superconductivity survive when exposed to higher temperature.

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Superconductors to get a low temperature boost (-180Ã‚Â°C) from Laser-based refrigerator

Ovidiu Sandru — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 13:41:03 +0000

University of New Mexico researchers have surpassed themselves in a laser-based cooling project. Professor Mansoor Sheik-Bahae (et al.) and other researchers from the University of Pisa, Italy and the Los Alamos Institute created the world's first all-solid-state cryocooler, that can be used from cooling infrared sensors to superconductors.

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New Iron-Based Material Could Be The Best High Temperature Superconductor

Ovidiu Sandru — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 15:24:26 +0000

Following the dream of realizing a high-temperature superconductor, Cornell University researchers just found something about iron-based materials: they can be made to resemble electronic liquid crystals.

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High Temperature Superconducting Magnets Just Got 45% More Power

Mike Sandru — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 16:20:54 +0000

Engineers at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory at the Florida State University are closer than ever to launching a new generation of high-field magnet, being 3,000 times stronger than an ordinary refrigerator magnet and will be able to generate a field about 45% more powerful than the strongest superconducting magnet currently available.

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New Discovery Sheds Light on Way to High Temperature Superconductivity

Ovidiu Sandru — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:50:00 +0000

High temperature superconductors are today what some other time the philosopher's stone used to be. Research done by Gennady Logvenov and his colleagues from the Brookehaven National Laboratory in Upton, NY sheds a new light on how scientists could engineer materials to obtain their desiderate: room temperature superconductors.

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SuperStation: The Superconductor Energy Hub Uniting U.S. Grids

Ovidiu Sandru — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 07:14:26 +0000

New Mexico may become a hub for this kind of energetic interaction, as Clovis is wanted to host the SuperStation, a hub using superconducting cables to link three networks: The Eastern Interconnection, The Western Interconnection and the Texas Interconnection. The 5GW carrying cables will be cooled down to -300°F and thus energy losses through heat will be infinitesimally close to zero.

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Researchers Make One More Step Towards Metallic Hydrogen as Superconductor

Ovidiu Sandru — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 15:47:24 +0000

A team of scientists from Cornell University and the State University of New York at Stony Brook announced this week in a specialized publication that they discovered, at least theoretically, how to turn hydrogen into a metal at significantly lower pressures than ever thought and make a superconductor out of it.

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Low Pressure Superconducting Hydrogen Compound Discovered

Ovidiu Sandru — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 09:22:58 +0000

We have always thought of hydrogen as a fuel. Yet, there are many possibilities for this interesting element. Normally found in gaseous state, hydrogen is the most common in the universe. Recently, scientists from Carnegie Institution in Washington D.C., have found a way to compress hydrogen in such a manner that it becomes not only solid, but turns into a metallic superconducting state.

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World's Thinnest Superconductor Ever Created

Cristi — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 18:34:02 +0000

Dr. Ken Shih and some of his physicist colleagues, have reported the development of the thinnest superconducting metal layer ever created, a superconducting sheet of lead only two atoms thick.

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Germanium Hydride to Become High Temperature Viable Superconductor

Ovidiu Sandru — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 09:10:52 +0000

The evolution of energy storage is not enough if we don't also evolve the energy transportation methods. That's why superconductors are not only good for us, but are also necessary in some applications where heat and energy loss, in general, have no place.

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Room Temperature Superconductors: a Step Away

Ovidiu Sandru — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 07:37:42 +0000

Imagine your television set working for 0.0001Watt, or your electric car charged by the Sun as you go. Imagine almost never ending batteries powering cool engines, no power lost through heat.

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Team Discovers what Once was Thought Impossible about Superconductors

Ovidiu Sandru — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 15:03:04 +0000

A team of researchers from the University of British Columbia, coordinated by Physics Assoc. Prof. Andrea Damascelli, has managed to develop a technique that controls the number of electrons from the surface of a high temperature superconductor. This procedure has been considered impossible for the last 20 years.

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Superconductor Powered Toyota Shows Increased Power

Ovidiu Sandru — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 11:52:16 +0000

Sumitomo has shown a prototype of a car (a Toyota - shown in picture) that uses special type of engine, a liquid-nitrogen cooled one. The use of liquid nitrogen makes usual copper conductors have superconducting properties.

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New Iron-based Superconductors Have Green Gains

Ovidiu Sandru — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 08:58:57 +0000

Researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has discovered a new type of iron-based superconductor that shares the same magnetic properties with the older copper-oxide superconductors. The amazing fact is that the new superconductors have all those magnetic properties at higher temperatures.

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How to Make a Superconductor at Home

Ovidiu Sandru — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 13:34:23 +0000

Superconductors are known as the holy grail of energy transmission, energy storage and even computing. You can make one yourself if you possess a bit of will, knowledge and the following: Equipment To make an yttrium-barium-copper-oxide superconductor, you will need: * Yttrium Oxide * Barium Carbonate (TOXIC) * Cupric Oxide * A Laboratory Furnace or […]

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What Is a SuperConductor?

Ovidiu Sandru — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 13:33:37 +0000

Superconductors are the next viable step in energy savings worldwide. They are being used to carry energy in Sweden, USA, Japan, and the list extends pretty fast to other countries.

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