I believe everyone knows something about the role of superconductors. If this zero-resistance material can be used on a large scale, the current electronic technology can be upgraded to an unprecedented height. At present, the difficulty lies in the need to turn a specific material into a superconductor at a very low temperature (close to absolute zero).

Recently, Mikhail Eremets of Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Germany and his colleagues found that the superconductivity of lanthanum hydride (LaH 10) appears at 250K or -23℃, which is quite close to normal temperature.

Researchers took lanthanum metal samples only a few microns in size, put them in perforated metal foil filled with liquid hydrogen, and then connected the equipment with wires, and then applied a pressure as high as 150 ~ 170 GPA-equivalent to 1700,000 times the standard atmospheric pressure or geocentric pressure. . Next, the researchers bombarded the sample with laser to combine lanthanum with hydrogen to form lanthanum hydride, and finally measured the structure and composition of the material with X-ray beam.

Although the pressure exerted by the team on the material is too great to be applied, it is clear that we have taken another big step towards 0℃ room temperature superconductor. The researchers' next goal is to find a magical compound that can show superconductivity under normal pressure. This new paper was published in the journal Nature.